Chapter 556: Patience

Leonel breathed hard, his face paling somewhat. But soon, he steadied himself, slowly descending.

Within their homes, many peeked out to see what was happening after all the noise came to a stop. But, all they saw was a singular young man, standing before a hole so smooth it reflected like a mirror.

'That's it...'

The longer Leonel stood before the smooth crater, the brighter his eyes seemed to grow. He completely forgot about his fatigue, a furious will billowing out from his thumping heart.

Space was among the most dangerous Force Strengthening Deviation in all of existence. Just a slight modification to a Force Art meant to teleport had created such devastation. Let alone having a chance to survive, there likely wasn't a single atom remaining of what used to be of these puppets.

The unfortunate part was that using the drawn Force Arts like this made it a one-use item. All the nodes in this area had been completely destroyed after just a single strike. It would be impossible to use the same tactic in this area, he would have to use a different location.

The durability of the materials simply couldn't hold up to multiple uses. But, it was precisely because of this that this attack was so dangerous.

Leonel looked up into the sky again. But now, the only reddish black line that remained was the one connected to Aina. Still, the Puppet Master was sorely mistake if it believed it could possibly use Aina against him.

Despite the fact he couldn't see the Puppet Master, it still felt as though his vision tore through space and time itself, his fury boiling through the fabric of reality.

...

The Puppet Master sat in its vat of blood, its white irises flickering with rage.

Those puppets of his that Leonel had just killed might not have been his most powerful, but they were his most useful. They had gotten a lot of work done for him in the past and had taken a lot of effort to nurture to the point where they could retain some intelligence of their own. But now they were gone and the Puppet Master couldn't quite understand how.

'How could his Fire and Earth Elemental affinity be higher than my puppets?!'

Others might not have quite understood what happened. But, how could he, as the controller of these puppets, have been unaware?

According to the usual team dynamic, the Earth Wolf would have the most area of effect impact, the Wind Wolf would pin opponents down, the Fire Wolf would be the main offensive power with the support of the Ice Wolf.

However, from the very beginning, the Earth Wolf's attacks seem to be useless. The Puppet Master hadn't quite understood what was happening, so it tried to probe the situation with the Ice Wolf, sending Leonel flying into the path of the Fire Wolf.

It worked out perfectly. After calculating through Leonel's defenses, the Puppet Master had believed that he would end up dead while Aina would end up severely injured. It was perfect.

But... None of this considered the fact that the Fire Wolf's attack would be absolutely useless. Not only was it useless, but it even knocked the Ice Wolf out of the battle completely.

The last chance the Puppet Master had had was the Wind Wolf who was able to silently appear behind Leonel... Only for it to fall victim to an area of effect force field that nearly completely incapacitated it.

From start to finish, they never had a chance. Leonel's only injury seemed to have been self-inflicted. How could the Puppet Master not be enraged?

The worst part was that even after a long analysis, it still had no idea what that final attack was. The only thing it knew was that even if it had been it in the range of that attack... It might not have faired any better.

The Puppet Master wanted to stand and go deal with this situation personally, but it was well aware that it couldn't.

As a Variant Invalid, the Puppet Master had strength that could rival even Savants of the same level. The only difference between it and a Savant was that while Savants could improve by doing nothing but eating and sleeping, its path to improvement was several times more difficult that even humans.

With its strength, especially coupled with the headpiece its Queen so graciously bestowed upon it, dulling the senses of a world of people with population numbering in the mere millions wasn't an issue. In fact, even if the number was tens of times this amount, it still wouldn't have much of a problem.

The issue, though, lied in the fact it couldn't move from this region.

Not many knew this, but his puppeteering ability relied on blood. By accumulating enough blood from the people of Earth, he was able to lock down on their auras, thus giving him a much wider range.

If it left this place, its senses would slowly dull until its control snapped.

The Puppet Master took a deep breath. It had been lying in wait for thousands of years. It had patience his fellow Invalids never had, this was why it was on the cusp of success while they were all dead.

It couldn't allow itself to make a mistake in these final moment.

'I've already locked onto her aura. It will be impossible for her to escape me. It won't be too late to bring her to my side when The Capital falls.'

The Puppet Master sneered, looking down toward Leonel's gaze, its face twisting into a sinister expression. Looming giants shifted to its back, their slight movements causing the ground to quake.

'It seems that he succeeded. It's unexpected, though, that this Legion wouldn't try to kick The Empire while it was down...'

The Puppet Master turned its attention away from Leonel, looking toward another part of Earth. There, a battle no less important than the one at The Capital was taking place. However, the combatants weren't The Empire and The Cities. Rather...

They were The Slayer Legion and The Powers.

And, unfortunately for The Slayer Legion, due to the Puppet Master's interference, they were fairing even worse than The Empire's warriors.