episode_0124

The Puppet Show’s Finale

“Ta-da! Taste the splendid tricks of my adventurer puppets, Saintess! Will you truly be able to block them all?!”

“….”

Aria was currently troubled. At first, she thought the puppeteer was someone who madly turned people into puppets, and she was filled with joy at the prospect of receiving Zeke’s praise and fulfilling her long-held duty of protecting Zeke. However, as she investigated the Dorgas, Aria learned that the puppeteer had her own circumstances, and she began to hesitate about killing the puppeteer. It wasn’t that she felt sympathy for Tiavel, the puppeteer.

“Hurry and die to become my puppet, Saintess!!! I’ll cherish you the most, so don’t worry!! Let’s go! Puppet Parade!!”

In Aria’s mind, as she embarked on her journey with Zeke, there was only the thought of Zeke, who had saved her from beginning to end. Because of this, Aria, who had spent a lot of time with Zeke, knew. If she killed Tiavel, who had her own circumstances, Zeke would be bitter for a few days. And Aria, judging that having to witness that for several days herself would be a great torment, continued to suppress the urge to kill Tiavel with her own hands. However….

“Huh… oh?”

“….Ah… this is annoying…. Everything is annoying…!!!”

As Tiavel continued to bother her, even though Aria was suppressing her true desire to kill her for Zeke’s sake, Aria considered simply killing Tiavel. Then, when Tiavel poured powerful attacks on her, Aria’s patience finally reached its limit. Her face contorted, and she immediately shot beams of light from her staff, deflecting the various elemental spells fired by the puppets surrounding Tiavel. And as Aria’s light beam easily pushed back her puppets’ magic, Tiavel was greatly startled and quickly leaped sideways to avoid Aria’s beam.

“Gah?!”

“Aargh! Everything is so annoying! Just disappear already!”

As Tiavel’s attack was parried, many puppets rushed at Aria again with swords and spears. Aria became furious and began swinging her staff wildly, smashing all the puppets before they could even attack her. As Aria suddenly went into a rage and started indiscriminately destroying her puppets, Tiavel thought with great perplexity.

‘Wha… why is she suddenly like this?! Just a moment ago she was calmly destroying my puppets… why is she suddenly so furious?!’

Tiavel simply couldn’t understand. Because she didn’t know why Aria had suddenly become enraged, Tiavel couldn’t grasp the situation at all. Tiavel could never have known that Aria’s impatience to resolve the situation before Zeke woke up, the need to save Tiavel whom she now knew had circumstances, and the suppression of her true feelings to receive Zeke’s praise, all combined to exhaust Aria’s patience.

“It’s annoying to think anymore, it’s annoying to deal with, everything is just annoying!!! I just want to move for Zeke-nim, but why are there so many obstacles?!”

‘Eek?!’

Moreover, because she had just wasted time with Tiara’s play, Aria’s impatience finally turned into anger. With that anger, Aria swung her staff, smashing the abdomens of the puppets approaching her. Furthermore, she didn’t stop there; Aria madly struck the heads of the fallen puppets with her staff, a sight that could truly be called terror itself.

‘Why in the world is she so angry?! I provoked her a lot, but she parried everything, so why is she suddenly so furious?!’

“Aaaargh!!”

As the puppets relentlessly continued to approach, Aria began to shriek. At that moment, puppets armed with bows drew their bowstrings from the second-floor railing to shoot arrows at Aria. Hearing the sound of bowstrings being drawn towards her, Aria immediately leaped onto the roof of a house-shaped model and soared to the second-floor railing. Then, she immediately began to smash all the archer puppets’ heads with her staff, and Tiavel was greatly shocked by the sight.

‘Is that even a sensible movement?! And why is her staff intact?! My puppets are clearly strengthened by my power… why isn’t the Saintess’s staff breaking?!’

“Hmph… hmph… Well… I’ve taken care of all the puppets that kept shooting like flies from the upper floor….”

“….?! Already?!”

Tiavel was greatly shocked that Aria had instantly destroyed all ten of her archer puppets on the second floor. At the same time, the puppets around Tiavel fired various elemental spells like fire, water, and wind at Aria again. Aria then spun her staff and said to Tiavel.

“Such ridiculous tricks no longer work on me. And I don’t even need to shoot a beam to do this…!!”

“….. Huh?”

The moment the puppets’ magic approached her nose, Aria swung her staff, deflecting the spells and bouncing them back towards the puppets that had fired them. The magic, deflected by Aria’s staff, returned to its users, and the magician puppets were caught by their own spells. Tiavel was greatly perplexed that Aria had deflected the magic.

“How did she deflect the magic…? How…?!”

“Now that the annoying long-range puppets are gone… shall I take care of the remaining ones?”

‘….!! These… puppets are already…?!’

As Aria looked at the puppets remaining on the first floor and leaped down from the railing, Tiavel realized that only nine puppets were left on the first floor and was greatly shocked. Then, seeing Aria land on the first floor and mercilessly smash the puppets rushing at her again with swords and spears, Tiavel couldn’t help but be horrified.

‘This is insane…. I was prepared to lose all my puppets to subdue the Saintess… but she alone took out all my special puppets?!’

“Hmph…. Well… the puppets near that wall look like they can move too… I should probably finish them off, right?”

“….!! N-no!!! Not those puppets!!!”

As Aria, who had utterly destroyed the soldier puppets, was about to tear apart even the other cloth and wooden puppets, Tiavel was startled and urgently shouted for Aria to stop from the second-floor railing. But Aria had no intention of listening to Tiavel. So, amidst Tiavel’s desperate cries, Aria began to tear all of Tiavel’s cloth puppets to shreds right before Tiavel’s eyes. Tiavel then looked at her cloth puppets, being torn apart in vain, and muttered with a dazed expression.

“N-no…. Not those puppets…. Those puppets don’t move…. Please stop…. Those puppets protect me… me….”

“Hmph… These puppets don’t move, indeed. But I still need to be prepared, so I’ll destroy them all. This is all your doing, Tiavel.”

“…!! Pl-please!! I was wrong! Please don’t do it!!!”

As Aria began to destroy or tear apart even the hidden puppets behind the house model, Tiavel cried out again to Aria in a desperate voice. But Aria still didn’t consider Tiavel’s pleas important. As a result, when all her puppets inside the tent were damaged beyond recognition by Aria’s hands, Tiavel looked at the torn puppets with a vacant expression and began to shed tears.

“Ah… oh… From long ago until now… my precious puppets that protected me…!”

“Hmm… I felt like there was a stain on them… I thought they were the first puppets you made….”

“Aaaargh….!! Screeeam!!!”

“….”

As the puppets she had made for the very first time, containing precious memories and having been with her all this time, were senselessly torn to shreds, Tiavel began to wail as if she had lost her mind. Then, red threads began to burst forth from all over Tiavel’s body. But Aria, as if she had expected this, looked at the threads spewing from Tiavel’s body with an indifferent expression and thought.

‘As expected… I knew it, Tiavel. That diary… Ever since I noticed something felt off about it, I had a rough guess about what happened to you….’

“I’ll never forgive you…. Saintess…!! You’re not even worth turning into a puppet…!! Just like you did to my puppets…. I’ll tear you to shreds…!!”

The threads bursting from Tiavel’s body began to clump together as if reacting to Tiavel’s rage. Then they began to transform into a certain shape. Seeing this, Aria looked at Zeke’s cloak she was wearing, then hugged herself with both arms and thought.

‘Zeke-nim would have done this in this situation too, right? I, Aria, acted as Zeke-nim wished… Hehehe… Please praise me a lot. Zeke-nim’s joy is my joy! Seeing Zeke-nim’s cloak, my patience, which had run out just a moment ago, is refilling, you know? I really feel like I can’t live without Zeke-nim~’

Aria, rubbing her cheek against Zeke’s cloak and feeling her patience, which had been depleted just moments before, begin to return, smiled and gazed steadily at Tiavel, who was gradually transforming into a golem made of threads. Then Aria straightened her staff and thought again as she looked at Tiavel.

‘Just a moment ago, I was complaining about how many obstacles there were when I just wanted to receive Zeke-nim’s praise… but after seeing Zeke-nim’s cloak, it felt like I was in Zeke-nim’s embrace, and all those complaints completely vanished, you know? And I realized… if it’s praise from Zeke-nim that I can receive after overcoming such hardships and adversities…!!’

“Be crushed, Saintess!!!”

As Tiavel, transformed into a golem on the second floor, leaped to the first floor and tried to strike her with a fist in mid-air, Aria let out a small laugh, then leaped backward to dodge Tiavel’s punch. Then she looked at Tiavel with an ecstatic expression, thinking of Zeke.

‘If it’s Zeke-nim’s praise that I gain through effort, then obstacles like these…!! I will definitely overcome them!!’

“Don’t smirk, you wretched Saintess!!! Because of you, my precious puppets were destroyed!!”

As Aria continued to think about something and smirk, Tiavel, annoyed, rushed at Aria and threw another punch. Aria let out a small laugh, then swung her staff, deflecting Tiavel’s punch. As Aria parried her punch, Tiavel continued to throw punches at Aria. Aria, in turn, parried all of Tiavel’s punches in the same manner and said to Tiavel.

“You don’t even know what state you’re in right now, do you? Of course not! The moment that diary showed you decided to turn people into puppets, I realized it! Of course, you can’t realize it yourself, so you don’t know what it is!!”

“Shut up!! All I care about right now is that you’re the one who destroyed my precious puppets, you wretched Saintess!!!”

Just as Aria had ignored her words moments before, Tiavel paid no attention to Aria’s words and continued to punch Aria. Aria then swung her staff with great force, deflecting Tiavel’s punch, then aimed her staff at the golem’s abdomen and recited a prayer again.

“O one in the heavens. With your power, I shall punish the sinner. Judgment upon the sinner!!!”

“That again?! That light beam won’t work on me anymore!!!”

As Aria shot a beam of light from her staff at her, Tiavel moved the golem’s arms to block Aria’s beam with both arms. Aria then looked slightly perplexed as Tiavel’s golem’s arms didn’t budge even after being hit by her beam.

“Oh dear… I didn’t expect that to not work. Your puppets were easily pierced, you know.”

“Shu… Shut uuuuuup!!!”

“…..!”

As Aria provoked her, Tiavel became furious and deflected Aria’s blocking beam straight upwards. Aria was startled, then extinguished the beam and said to Tiavel.

“The threads are quite sturdy. But do you believe those threads will continue to protect you? With such threads, you can never defeat me. To think you can defeat me with someone else’s power…”

“Someone else’s power? Ha…!! I don’t know what you’re talking about… but it seems you’re the one who doesn’t know… That power you keep using… that power is…!!”

As Aria pointed out that the power she was using was someone else’s and not her own, Tiavel let out a small laugh, then, pointing out Aria’s power, punched at Aria and shouted.

“I can clearly see that it’s not your original power?!”

“I don’t know about that… Anyway, I clearly understand that your power is insufficient to defeat me. Like this!!”

As Tiavel pointed out that the power she was using was also not her original power, Aria paid no attention to Tiavel’s remark. Instead, she pointed out that in the current situation, Tiavel could not defeat her. Then she thrust her staff forward, parrying the punch Tiavel threw, and in that state, Aria recited a prayer.

“O one in the heavens….”

“How many times do I have to tell you that attack won’t work…”

“Cleanse the soul of the sinner with your power…!!”

“!!!”

As Aria recited the prayer she had used to fire a beam again, Tiavel tried to say that the attack wouldn’t work on her. However, when Aria recited a different incantation than before, Tiavel was greatly perplexed, and at the same time, multiple streams of light burst forth from Aria’s staff and began to wrap around Tiavel’s golem body.

“Wh-what is this?!”

“It will cleanse whatever alien substance remains in your body. Specifically, those threads.”

“What?!”

Tiavel was greatly perplexed when Aria revealed that the light streams she unleashed would cleanse her threads. And at that moment, as the golem’s body began to gradually disappear upon contact with Aria’s light streams, Tiavel became greatly distraught.

“N-no!! No!!! If these threads disappear, I’ll…!!”

“Why are you saying ‘no’ when you became a puppet because of those threads in the first place? Disappear at once!! Impurity clinging to Tiavel!!”

“Y-you wretched Saintesssss!!!”

As the red thread golem began to glow and slowly disappear, Tiavel started screaming and writhing in agony. Then, once a portion of the golem’s body had vanished, Tiavel fainted on the spot and fell to the floor. Aria then illuminated her staff and muttered as she stared blankly at Tiavel, who lay collapsed on the floor.

“Well then… Hmm… what should I do now…? Hehehe… Of course, I should go back to Zeke-nim, right~?”

Aria, for whom Zeke was more important than Tiavel, began to smirk, imagining in her mind that Zeke would praise her if she told him everything that had happened.