episode_0063

There is a man who has spent most of his life receiving little but praise.

A person who was born with innate talent and was always recognized by various teachers.

The person’s name is Lily.

A genius child born into a noble family who showed his talent at an early age.

The work of honing my talents was grueling, but rewarding, and although I didn’t have much free time, the environment itself was luxurious.

If someone were to ask him about his childhood, the answers he would give would be kind teachers, sumptuous dinners, heartfelt compliments, and flowers in the garden.

It was a beautiful and precious life.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t an experience befitting the bloody battlefield.

That must have been why his body froze the moment his colleague met death.

Crunch!

The warrior’s head is cut off with a sword strike. Even though the warrior was diligently repeating regeneration during the battle, the severed head cannot be regenerated.

As if a volcano was erupting, drops of blood spurted out, and at the same time, the warrior’s life was snuffed out.

*

[Skill, ‘Noble Sacrifice’ is activated!]

[Caution, the skill’s range of motion is too large!]

[Start calculations to correct causality!]

[Causality Correction······ 0%]

*

dump.

It only took a moment for my body, already reduced to rags, to fall to the floor.

Even though he was a colleague I had been suspicious of, this was the first time I had ever seen a colleague die. I was momentarily shocked and lost my senses, but before I knew it, the other colleagues’ heads had also been cut off.

“It was a tough fight! But now it’s just the two of us left!”

Necks were rolling everywhere. Among them, only Lily survived.

She desperately tried to summon her magical powers, but her body wouldn’t move. This was because the guy’s supernatural power had already reached her.

My arm moves here and there as if it is not my arm.

Lily was scared of that.

What kind of power do you have that makes you so powerful?

I didn’t see the guy’s magic move, and there were no special signs. The main body’s power was strong, but that ability was really at an unbelievable level.

It’s so alien and bizarre.

It was literally a supernatural power.

As time passed, my whole body was consumed in an instant.

“Do you know why I saved your life?”

The net approaches her.

There was a faint madness in the gentle smile.

“These days, life is no fun because we’ve run out of ‘toys’.”

Lily suddenly got scared.

“So I decided to make a new one while I’m at it.”

Although the face was very attractive, Lily felt only creepy about it.

It was a strange smile, as if something that wasn’t human was pretending to be human. Lily could sense her fate there.

“Please make me happy.”

Oh, my life is fucked now, you know.

*

[Causality Correction······14.261816%]

*

Of all the Four Heavenly Kings, Luke hated the Puppet Master the most.

It was partly a nuisance of ability, but partly a human aversion to it.

The other Four Heavenly Kings all had at least some reason to harass the heroines. King Chung was obsessed with making his inventions, some were helpless, and some wanted revenge.

Even though they were crooked, they all had their own circumstances and goals.

“My abilities can be broadly divided into two categories. One is brainwashing the mind, and the other is controlling the body.”

But he is not a puppet.

“When using abilities, I usually mix these two. Even if you just inflict a status effect like [fainting], the opponent will easily become defenseless. However, I will only control your body if possible. Why?”

Only fun.

“Because that’s fun.”

He is born sadistic and cruel.

He has a tendency close to absolute evil, treating people like dolls and finding pleasure in it. That’s why people fear him the most.

The puppet master Net said so and slowly raised his power.

Then Lily starts to break her own stops.

Her slender, delicate middle finger slowly bent backwards.

Lily tried to stop somehow, but her body wouldn’t listen.

The middle finger that was being bent and bent like that has now become···.

Bam-!

“Ugh···!”

A painful groan escaped Lily’s throat.

The stop sign was bizarrely bent, exceeding the limits of human structure.

The puppet master saw that, smiled brightly, and continued speaking.

“I think of people as instruments. A heavenly instrument that produces a wide variety of sounds.”

Plop-!

“Depending on how you handle it, the sound changes in a thousand different ways. Sometimes it screams as if it can’t stand it anymore, and sometimes it gasps in pleasure. I like each and every one of those sounds.”

Bam-!

“Ugh···!”

“It’s very good.”

The guy smiled as if he was in ecstasy. Lily tried to keep her voice from responding to him, but she couldn’t help but feel the pain seeping out.

“Oh, and don’t worry about not having enough fingers.

Although I can’t use it, there are many high-level potions that work well on humans.”

The puppet master opened his own subspace. Then, holy-looking potions poured out.

Each and every one of them was a high-grade, top-grade potion painstakingly created by priests.

It is a valuable recovery potion that has no effect on the Demon King’s army, but can even regenerate severed arms for humans.

Normally, I would have felt a sense of relief seeing that large quantity, but now I felt only fear.

Each of those water bottles was a torture device that extended her suffering dozens of times. She trembled in fear.

“You look so scared. Then I’ll give you a chance.”

That was when.

Exactly.

And the puppet master snaps her fingers. Then freedom returns to her body. Her arms, which had been frozen and motionless, move, and the restraint that seemed to weigh her down like a rock disappears.

She tilts her head at the sudden freedom.

The net opened its mouth again.

“Take off your clothes. Everything.”

Those were some disgusting words.

“Depending on how you act, I will decide how you will be treated. Scream in pain or writhe in pleasure. It is your choice.”

So, the guy is trying to educate himself.

It’s not about brainwashing the mind or controlling the body. It’s about making people follow you like slaves through rewards and punishments.

Of course, Lily had no intention of following through yet, so here was what she had to say.

“······ Fuck you.”

She spat at the guy. She was not unmanned, so the spit fell to the floor before long, but at least she was able to convey her intentions sufficiently.

The puppet master who saw that shrugged his shoulders and said.

“···Well, then there’s nothing I can do.”

Crack-! Crack-! Crack-!

For a while, only the sound of bones breaking and feeble groans echoed through his dwelling.

*

[Causality Correction······ 32.829201%]

*

How many days have passed?

The guy’s torture ended when Lily’s broken fingers passed the three digits. It wasn’t because he had run out of magic or mental strength. It was simply because he was bored.

“Hmm, stop it.”

Exactly!

As the net snapped her fingers, freedom returned to her body again. But even so, Lily couldn’t move a finger. She was already exhausted both physically and mentally. The feeling of her fingers being snapped by her own hands was still eerily vivid.

My right hand keeps moving even though I know it shouldn’t. My left fingers are bursting beyond the limits of my body.

Even knowing the terrible outcome, he could only continue to watch with helplessness… It was a lot of things that were too harsh for a wizard who had grown up so preciously to experience.

As Lily lay on the floor, panting for breath, the guy opened his mouth.

“Haa··· Haa···.”

“I admit it. You’re tougher than I thought. Is this really the level you need to be to become a member of the hero’s party? If I keep doing it, I’ll just be wasting potions.”

“······.”

“There’s no other way. We have no choice but to find another way.”

Lily looked up with a fearful face.

You’re saying I should write more here? I’m already so tired that I feel like I’m going to collapse, and it’s going to get even worse here.

She couldn’t kill.

“Oh, okay. That would be good.”

The guy who had been thinking like that for a long time clapped his hands together.

The smile on the cheerful handsome face just felt evil.

Finally the guy says.

“What is the worst memory you’ve ever had in your life?”

“······?”

“It doesn’t matter. Someone scolded you. Someone precious died. Or maybe everything feels unfamiliar like this moment, etc… I’ll remind you of those feelings. In fact, emotions are part of the brain’s stimulus response, so I can control them!”

“···Huh?”

Until then, Lily didn’t understand. No, maybe she didn’t want to understand. However, whether she wanted it or not, the situation was bound to happen.

Exactly!

As he snapped his fingers, a flood of emotions came rushing into Lily’s head. As the emotions came, terrible memories also played out in her head.

An incident where he was so obsessed with his talent that he got scolded by his teacher.

The death of a loved one. The death of a comrade by a puppet master. And the empty eyeballs of the warrior who saved him from the dungeon…

“Gyaaaah-!”

She screamed as fear, self-loathing, and sadness all came rushing in at once. It was a kind of panic. The guy smiled with satisfaction at the sight.

“It works, of course.”

It seemed like the bullying would end for the time being.

*

[Causality Correction······ 71.3729961%]

*

···To be honest, the mental assault wasn’t as painful as having my finger snapped.

If you try, it’ll just make your head a little noisy.

It’s all an illusion. It’s in the past. I’ve overcome all those things and I’m not swayed by those negative words anymore.

Thinking that way, I was able to achieve a brief moment of psychological victory.

But as one day passed, then two days, then several more days passed, my mind changed.

When I close my eyes, the emotions and memories of that day still come back vividly. The auditory hallucinations that continued day and night made me want to snap my fingers instead.

“Please, please stop···!”

If you stay still, various memories come to mind.

The first time I got scolded by my teacher. The time my precious parents passed away. The time I got scolded by people around me for doing things my own way.

However, since she had grown up preciously, surprisingly, she didn’t have many bad memories.

Therefore, if there is anyone who feels the most negative emotions, it is none other than this man.

brave.

The person who fought with you the most, doubted you, and hated you the most, but still saved you.

Since he was the one who fought so much, it was inevitable that he would appear in my memories a lot.

But ironically, she didn’t feel as hateful as she did back then. The emotion that remained in her memory was guilt.

Looking back now, I don’t know why I was so angry.

Although he was suspicious and had studied black magic, he never once harmed his comrades.

He died for his party members until the very end.

So, it would have been okay if she had trusted him at least once… Lily really regretted not having done so.

“I’m sorry···.”

Lily kept apologizing like that for a while.

*

[Causality Correction······94.483938%]

*

Exactly!

···At what point did it start?

At some point, the voice echoing in her head stopped.

The finger-cracking and other bullying behaviors stopped.

The puppet show has stopped.

As the pain that seemed like it would never end ended, Lily looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. She was glad to have time to catch her breath, but she couldn’t figure out what the guy was thinking.

But the guy’s antics didn’t end there.

He had his servants wash her to make her look more sloppy, and he called in his maids to make her look more beautiful.

It didn’t take long for her to change from a beggar to a noble daughter.

Judging from the outward appearance, it feels like he was treated with respect rather than being bullied.

After Lily tilted her head for a while, the guy gave her an answer.

“We’re having an important event soon.”

It was a remark that gave off an ominous feeling.

Until then, Lily didn’t understand what the guy was trying to do.

But those questions were naturally resolved the next day, but in a not-so-pleasant way.

*

[Causality Correction······98.873822%]

*

The next day, Lily and the puppeteer headed to the city where humans lived.

Perhaps because news of the warrior party’s defeat had already spread, the city was in utter chaos.

Emotions such as despair, sadness, fear, and anger overflow everywhere.

Lily, who was part of the party, couldn’t raise her head because she felt like it was her fault.

One of the Four Heavenly Kings entered, but no one noticed because of the polymorph spell.

Thanks to this, they could easily reach the center of the city.

In the center of the city there was a platform.

A platform used by nobles to make speeches, to state the charges against a criminal, or to deliver important official documents.

As such, there were always a lot of people here, and they flocked in easily.

Lily and the puppeteer climbed up onto the platform.

Until then, Lily had no idea what he was going to do.

Soon, the puppet master takes out several objects from his subspace.

Four large wooden skewers, each as tall as Lily.

And the warrior’s head.

Adele’s head.

Camilla’s head.

Yuris’s head.

The heads of the dead party members, who couldn’t even close their eyes, are skewered one by one. The hideous heads are displayed one after another on the stage.

As each skewer was set up, the eyes of the surrounding citizens gathered. At first, the eyes were filled with doubt, but gradually they turned to shock.

“What is that?”

“Head···?”

“Who these days would do something so ugly···!”

“Look over there! Isn’t that the warrior’s head?!”

“What?!”

Lily wanted to run away right now.

But the puppet master’s powers that had taken over her body made that impossible.

Boom boom boom!

Her heart was pounding like crazy. She felt dizzy and like she was going to vomit.

In that situation, the puppet master said.

“Look at you all! The warrior who was your hope, your last lifeline, has finally died!! Your lives will now fall into the abyss!”

“What?”

“What is that kid saying!”

” I come down here! ◦ ◦ ◦

The voices of angry citizens are erupting from many places.

But the puppet master continued speaking without paying any attention.

“Of course the warrior was strong! Maybe we would have lost. If it weren’t for her help here now, we would have lost!”

“What?”

She asked back without realizing it. The puppet master looked at Lily and spoke in a longing voice.

“Thank you, Lily. It was all thanks to you that the Demon King’s army was able to win.”

Lily wanted to deny it right away. She wanted to shout, “What the hell are you talking about?” But her mouth didn’t move as if it had been sewn shut. It was the puppet master’s fault.

Is it because the guy gave me the attention?

The hatred and anger seething through the crowd began to turn toward her.

“This traitorous bitch!”

Lily denied it inwardly.

“You devilish bitch!”

He denied that he had done so.

“You killed the warrior!”

He made excuses, saying he had no such intention.

I cried out and pleaded inwardly dozens of times as if I were a criminal who had been falsely accused. I desperately hoped that my true feelings would come out of my mouth even just once.

But what came out of her mouth was…

“Why? Why is it my fault?”

Manipulated words that have nothing to do with one’s own will.

“In any case, in the end, the warrior lost because he was weak, right? It’s better to surrender quickly than to be ambiguously tortured with hope. So in a way, I helped you.”

With utmost arrogance. With utmost shamelessness.

“So you should be thankful to me, you piece of trash.”

He spouts out nonsense that doesn’t even make sense.

Lily was shedding tears of blood inside, but outwardly she only fanned the crowd’s anger.

Raw hatred and anger flew towards Lily.

It felt vivid to me that everyone hated me.

Because she had grown up preciously, she was not immune to such direct criticism.

Then, at some point, she realized.

‘ah.’

Although it is not something I have experienced myself, it is a familiar sight.

Yeah, this is it.

‘This is the sight the warrior was looking at.’

This is the scenery he looked at when he had no one to lean on.

It was at some point after a long time had passed.

The puppet master, who had been just watching, opens his mouth with a playful expression.

“I can’t take this anymore. Can’t you, Lily?”

“That’s right, that’s right. They all need to be punished.”

It’s like I’ve become a puppet for ventriloquism, continuing to spout out words I don’t want to hear.

At Lily’s words, the guy bows his head slightly in greeting.

“As much as you want.”

Eventually, the ability is revealed.

The bodies of the crowd that had been cursing on the stage all along begin to move on their own.

“Huh? Wait, why is it like this?”

“Suddenly my body is acting up···!”

Then, they come looking for a fly from somewhere and stab each other.

“Gyaaak!”

“Hey, wait a minute! This isn’t intentional···!”

“Oh, no. Stop! Stop!!”

Blood and screams burst out from all sides.

On the stage, the puppet master and Lily laughed hysterically.

So many people fighting, and Lily crying on the inside and smiling on the outside.

In such a bizarre situation···.

*

[Causality correction complete!]

[Skill activated!]

[Looking for a save point!]

*

Suddenly time stopped.