Chapter 49: Special

Everyone stared in the direction of the voice, their guards up and their bodies tense. They wondered what would walk out of that darkness.

A humanoid figure walked out. It had on some kind of fully bodied armor made of gold and black metal with worn engravings on it that seemed ancient. A long red cape on his back flowed on the ground as he walked. His face was completely covered with a metal mask with a lot of unique patterns. He had two long, curved horns on his head, and that was the only way they could know this figure was not human.

He raised his hand the moment that he got there, and everyone immediately got ready for an attack, but he did not attack. He simply called back a string. It snapped from the neck of the now unconscious Ray and came back to him.

"No need to be scared. If I wanted you all dead, you would be." He said that and then flicked another finger, only to reveal the strings that were all very close to the necks of each of them, tense and ready to slash through their necks, all but one, Leon, as Shadow did not allow the strings to get close.

Everyone became scared to their bones. Some collapsed to the door in fear.

The figure turned his eyes to Leon. "You, you are quite the interesting one." He took a few steps forward. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Puppeteer."

He gave a small bow.

’I might be able to escape because of Shadow, but everyone else will die at the hands of this monster.

’This is definitely not a regular monster at all. He can talk, and he managed to take control of Ray without anyone even knowing at all.

I have to play this calmly and try to get everyone out of this as well.

Shadow, while I talk to this monster, stretch out and do the same thing that you did for me to everyone. Ensure that the strings cannot reach their necks.’

"Understood."

While Shadow was now sneaking around, Leon faced the Puppeteer.

"My name is Leon. I am a hunter from the human world."

"I know who you are. I know what you do. Haha."

He let out a hearty laugh and then stopped. "You come into the gates and you hunt monsters to stop them from flooding your world and also get stronger."

Leon was a bit worried after hearing that. Was this monster going to kill them now because of what they were doing?

"Seems like we have pissed you off with our actions," Leon said.

"Quite the contrary. I have no use for the mindless monsters that you all eliminate, and I also have no plans to engage in war.

I am simply a cog in the grand scheme of things as well. You humans come, and I eliminate you if I can, and that’s how it will always be. My fate existed long ago during the early times of hunters.

My realm stood until one day I decided to remove myself from the fight and stay away."

"Then what made you come back now?" Leon asked.

"Haha, well, now that’s some private talk, but I have a feeling you’ll be the best person for it.

"Also, you can tell your Shadow to stop what it is doing. I’ll not kill anyone for now, unless this interaction proves unfruitful," he said calmly.

’Tch, he could see Shadow doing it? This monster is not something to mess with. I have to play this cool.’

"I’m sorry about that," Leon apologized.

"Wanting to protect your comrades is nothing to be sorry about. Come now." He swooped his hand in the air, and both he and Leon vanished from sight.

[...]

Leon opened his eyes and was immediately stunned by what he saw around him. Rows and rows of wooden puppets, some the size of humans and some even bigger. Different shapes and forms.

"Many monsters exist, but I have to create mine," the Puppeteer said.

"I could easily control the monsters around, but what I make is better to control," he said as he walked in front and tapped one of the wooden structures. It trembled for a bit and then turned into a real goblin right in front of Leon.

The Puppeteer looked at it and then grabbed it by the head and crushed its head. The goblin died as blood and brain matter splattered to the ground and stained the floor. A small core rolled from its head and stopped at Leon’s foot.

"It’s totally real the moment that I want it to be real," he said and then turned around.

"But that is not the issue that we are here for. I wanted to kill all of you and keep only the strongest, which I believed was that human that you took out.

He would have been my puppet as I observed the human world. You see, there is a balance that must exist between the gates and humanity, a secret rule that I am sure someone like you has not gotten to know.

But for some reason, someone is tampering with those rules and has begun to change the logic of the game, and I hate that deeply. So, I brought my gate out again so that I can observe the human world.

I was going to get as many strong puppets as possible from the human world and see what is happening exactly."

Leon heard that, and he immediately felt panic. This monster was willing to control hundreds of humans to find out what he wanted. Hundreds of people would lose their human autonomy.

"As I saw you take down that human, I immediately tried to make you my next puppet, but it did not work. The first time that I have been unable to do that to a human.

It makes me wonder, what is so special about you that I cannot take control of you?"