allonlinenovel Chapter 205 Neighborhood Arc: The Puppet Show - End
Chapter 205 Neighborhood Arc: The Puppet Show - End
"...Found it!" "Found it!"
"Found it! Found it! Found it!" "That wretched spirit!" "Tokisaki Kurumi!" "We must fight!" "We must protect her!" "We must kill her—!"
—It's finally here.
Hundreds against one, an overwhelming victory in numbers, but a hopelessly inferior one in quality.
However, quantity usually drives out quality, especially when that quality is singular. For quality to surpass quantity, it must be invincible.
Kurumi Tokisaki is not invincible. She can indeed heal her wounds in an instant, but she was actually injured at that moment.
"...Listen to me, listen to me, listen to me! She's not absolute! She's not invincible!"
"That's right! It is indeed a calamity! A despair that leaves one helpless! But! But! We can fight against it! We can defeat it! We should be able to defeat it!"
Zhu Xiaoting's usually calm voice was sharp and piercing.
Lyukos's usually dignified voice sounded urgent and ugly.
Even so, the puppet troupe still held up the nameless angel and cheered. For to these puppets, their master's words were absolute.
"The master has ordered her to be killed!"
"The master has ordered that she be killed completely!"
Upon hearing what the "puppet master" said, the puppets began to move.
The sky, the land, and the buildings were filled with 1,500 dolls.
And the only one who could stand against her was Tokisaki Kurumi.
"The war has begun. Ring the bell."
"Understood, Master!"
The school bell rang deafeningly.
The school bell rang all around—not exactly a tense signal for the start of battle, but oh well.
"There are over a thousand opponents, and I'm all alone..."
That's fine.
Even if I lose my memory, I can still roughly understand. The fact that I am alive is itself a tremendous miracle.
It wouldn't be surprising if they disappeared from the world at any time.
"...That's really strange. I'm clearly scared and want to cry."
If you close your eyes, you can see a boy.
I want to ask that person myself. Why, given the possibility of death, would they make that choice?
Humans die. But the instinct to prolong death is to do so.
Even humans who yearn for death, if the pain that brings death were removed, would probably still yearn for life.
...But that person wasn't.
It's okay to run away, it's okay to ask for help; even if you suffer setbacks and become discouraged, who will blame you?
The girls around him probably thought about it too.
Why is this person, who looks like they're about to die, still standing here?
The elves don't want to see this happen. No, they are touched, but they still hope to avoid it.
Because as long as he is by my side, I can find salvation.
"...So, you can't make me cry and be afraid too."
He possessed his own bullets.
I own [Zafkiel].
I possess the [Divine Might Spirit Armor - Third Edition].
Kurumi loaded her shadow into her short and long spears. She tightened the ribbons of her spirit dress and looked in the mirror for a while.
"……very good."
She's at least as stunning as the dazzling elves surrounding that person. Although she's recently started to wonder if using only black and red is too somber, she absolutely refuses to go back to the sweet, all-white lolita look.
She felt satisfied that she could still think about such trivial things.
Then jump out of the window.
The rain had stopped, and the sky was a beautiful twilight. Orange light illuminated the deserted streets, where dolls were hidden in various places.
Kurumi stood in the middle of the road, lifted her skirt, and gave an elegant bow.
Then--
"Well then, everyone, I've come to save you."
A large number of dolls rushed towards Kurumi Tokisaki, who had uttered such absurd words.
The screams of a group of puppets heralded the start of the war.
"【Zfkfk Emperor】—【First Bullet】!"
Instant acceleration. Five hundred of the fifteen hundred puppets couldn't catch up with Kurumi, and the remaining one thousand, dazzled by the speed, barely managed to catch a glimpse of her afterimage with their glass eyes.
However, five hundred of the thousand dolls understood that they were only capturing Kurumi's afterimage and were powerless to do anything about it.
Only five hundred dolls remain that can capture and attack Kurumi Tokisaki, who is hurtling past like a storm.
None of the four hundred attacks hit Kurumi. Jumping, spinning, intercepting, accelerating, decelerating, and getting dizzy, none of her actions harmed a single hair on Kurumi's head as she raced down the road.
Only the last one hundred remain.
"...!"
Kurumi fired continuously. One hundred dolls quickly dodged the bullets.
"do you remember me?"
"……Remember."
Kurumi frowned slightly as she responded to the call from the doll holding the giant magnifying glass.
"And what about them?"
"And what about me?"
Kurumi gave a bitter look and nodded to the two of them.
Do you remember me too?
A doll stands in front of her.
"Nogi Ai Ai."
They are neither companions nor friends, nor even formidable rivals.
It was only about three days, a period of mutual slaughter and an extremely cold relationship.
Even so, let's still hold onto some hope for "The Puppet Master." Although the time was short, because it had...
Will the elves develop empathy through interaction?
Will hesitation arise, creating openings for our scheme?
—I did feel sympathy, hesitation, and a sense of vulnerability.
But she miscalculated one thing. She couldn't forget that until just a few hours ago, Tokisaki Kurumi was an empty, deserted girl.
She cries, laughs, and is timid more than others, and most importantly, she empathizes with the elves.
"...That's right, that's exactly it."
A girl who once naively wanted to fall in love.
A girl who once longed for what love was.
There are also girls who feel close to each other in a short period of time, and girls who keep giving their names even though they are upset and say they hate their own names.
Ah, "It really has nothing to do with me."
"Even though it has nothing to do with me, I'm in a really bad mood." So, she wanted to express her feelings directly.
“You have really angered me, ‘Puppet Master’.”
As she took a step, Kurumi shoved her spear into the upper jaw of one of the five dolls, forcefully throwing her onto the road, and pulled the trigger.
With a bang, the doll shattered instantly.
The doll has no courage and no sweat glands, but it seems to freeze its body out of fear.
"I won't let you toy with them anymore."
Of course we must kill them.
I have decided to kill them, to stop them from being humiliated.
Kurumi keeps her word.
It took only seventy-seven seconds to kill all five dolls. Kurumi Tokisaki fought them with all her might, constantly firing bullets.
"They bought us time!"
"That's right, now is the time to show your strength...!"
Zhu Xiaoting and Lü Kesi gave instructions.
Ninety-five puppets, four hundred puppets, one thousand puppets—seize this opportunity and swarm in.
Kurumi Tokisaki didn't flee into the shadows; she simply stared straight ahead. The group of dolls were all behind her, with nothing obstructing her view.
"Gotcha, 'Puppet Master'."
"Don't talk nonsense. How could you possibly catch me...!"
Three hundred meters in front of Tokisaki Kurumi was the central building of this area—the school. 'Puppet Master' was indeed there.
The top floor of the school building is shrouded in a powerful aura of spiritual energy, making it the only safe haven in this war, a paradise-like area.
What does a puppeteer need to dominate this field?
Domination is the pinnacle, and those at the pinnacle inevitably aspire to be at the top. Even the cautious and timid "puppet master" is no exception.
Kurumi warned the dolls to protect the "Puppet Master" in order to turn her speculation into certainty.
As expected, no matter which direction Kurumi came from, the puppet group was positioned to protect the building.
The "Puppet Master" doesn't pose a problem in the building. Besides, Kurumi wouldn't give her any chance to escape.
"I'll drag you down right now..."
Just after Kurumi finished speaking, her eyes changed slightly. To her surprise, there were already people waiting at the school gate.
Looking at the black military uniform, the scarlet heterochromatic eyes, and that familiar face, coupled with the memories of emptiness, Kurumi's gaze and expression changed slightly after they met.
"—Student □?"
"—It's Kurumi-kun, right? My memory of her is a bit hazy, but I can still remember her. Can you leave the 'Puppet Master' thing to me?"
The two were just looking at each other from across the river, separated by a few buildings, their lips slightly moving. Although their impressions of each other were extremely vague, they were both certain that the other was someone they could trust.
"Please do as you please, but it would be best if you could leave her with a breath of life."
Thank you for your understanding.
After thanking him, Wu Ming went inside. The puppet that rushed back was about to stop him when it was instantly burned to ashes.
"Today, I declare that a ruler of the neighboring realm will fall on this day."
Black flames gathered in the school building, like a supernova about to explode, until the final snap of fingers rang out.
"boom--"
The entire school building was engulfed by black flames, and powerful spiritual energy fluctuations spread out, like a black rose in full bloom, a work of art.