Chapter 191

Chapter 191

Nix was overcome with an emotion he had never experienced before. Something deep down inside of himself ached uncontrollably as if a wound that had yet to heal properly had just reopened. He felt as though he would die if he didn’t immediately expel the raging storm of anger, disappointment, and resentment swelling up within his being.

Clang!

His weapon broke as it collided with that of another puppet’s with the same amount of strength behind the swing. The broken piece rebounded off of the nearest glass wall. The Gold Master stared blankly at the enraged blond who was desperately trying to kill him, then turned his gaze to the broken piece of metal that had just landed near him. As his hands shook, he took hold of it.

Clang! Clang!

The youth was too busy fending off the other puppets’ combined attacks that even the one he had been clinging on to had finally resolved its objective and had begun to slam him against one of the glass walls.

Boom!

Bam!

Crack!

The glass emitted an ominous sound as it repeatedly absorbed the heavy blows. Nix bit down on his lip as he too absorbed the impact of each crushing smash.

Boom!

He twisted his body to the side, then finally slammed the puppet he had been choking into the wall for good.

Shatter!

The puppet immediately lost its balance as the glass wall finally began to shatter into countless pieces. Had the blond not caught himself, he expected he would have fallen along with the puppet. However, he had been quick to loosen his grip around the creature’s throat just in time. After toppling over the translucent wall, the doll collided with the ground below. He, in turn, staggered backward as a strong gust of wind suddenly blew toward him.

Shnk!

“Kegh!”

In an instant, he felt a sharp pain at his side. The puppet spun around to see a pale Noel Vertium staring back at him. Blood gushed out from the wound he had just sustained from a metallic weapon.

A ragged voice burst forth from Nix’s dry mouth as he glared down at his assailant. “Damn you, Noel Vertium!”

He immediately tried to thrash into his former master, but halted as soon as he locked sight with the young leader’s petrified, green eyes.

“G-g-grab Nix! Hurry up and restrain him!”

The Vertium clan leader was not willing to risk missing his final window of opportunity. Before Nix could launch another counterattack, Noel found himself pinned to the cold glass floor yet again by the mindless dolls.

“I-I don’t have a choice in this either!”

Blood continued to gush out of the wound the Gold Master had inflicted on his creation as the young blond struggled to free himself. He could no longer thwart them as he had before since he was not only injured but had also reached the limit of his strength and stamina. Meanwhile, his captors knew no such struggle.

“Besides, I’m the one who created you in the first place, so I can do whatever I want with you!” The orange-haired man rattled off excuse after excuse to no one in particular. “That’s why... That’s why...!”

He clenched his fist around the weapon still in his grasp as his blood-drenched hands continued to tremble uncontrollably. It suddenly became clear that the otherwise baby-faced leader was intent on reclaiming Nix’s heart right then and there.

“Damn you, Noel! How can you do this to me?!”

The hatred dripping from every word the puppet hollered poured over onto the broken pieces of glass along with the blood spilling over his lips. The feeling was finally setting in that his efforts had all been in vain. But in that same moment, he caught a glimpse of the dark figure who had been plaguing his dreams and hallucinations.

The light reflecting off the glass shards scattered throughout the passageway and created a mysterious glow on the man’s face.

Am I... hallucinating again? If I’m seeing this grim beast, who always seems to show up right as I’m about to die in my dreams... is this really the end? Am I really just one step away from crossing over into death for good? Is that why I’m seeing him again now?

But the man was no vision. Deon Agrece watched the pathetic manner in which Nix struggled desperately and his red eyes filled with malice. Unlike the tense scene in front of him, the air surrounding the Agrece was eerily quiet and calm.

Deon’s heartless eyes staring out from under his fluttering black hair peered at the teen who continued to thrash about pitifully. From what he remembered, Achille was always either smiling like a clown or crying miserably as he stared up at him with despair and horror painted clear across his face. It seemed to him that not much had changed even after he was turned into a puppet.

His half-brother was disappointingly and perpetually weak. Too weak, in fact, to even properly fend off someone who was openly bent on killing him. That was why the crimson-eyed man could never understand why their sister Roxana seemed to love such crippling innocence.

It was Achille’s weakness that had always invoked a sensation similar to pity, but it most might interpret it as a desire to look after and protect him. Of course, Deon had never felt any warmth after seeing his half-brother in such a state. It was simply the reason he had come up with as to why Roxana still clung to the puppet of his first victim. However...

“Die for me, Nix.”

“Go to hell, Noel!”

This “Achille” was growling like a wild animal with so much malice in his expression that the Agrece was almost moved. The Achille he was watching at present was nothing like the young boy from his past.

Flawed purity.

In that moment, the Achille who had never so much as resembled Deon while he was still alive suddenly looked like a true Agrece in his eyes. Alas, it was only after dying and being turned into a walking corpse did he shake off that hopeless aura.

Without warning, an eerie sensation jolted through his entire body. It was just as unfamiliar a sensation to him as was seeing his weak brother’s body fighting back. The deep void that had always been in the place of his heart began to pulsate ever so slightly as he watched on.

Then something blurry lingered in his vision. It seemed to beckon him forward like a flashing yet fading light that was just out of his reach.

Fwoosh!

Clang!

In a flash, the forces pinning Nix down had disappeared. Noel had also been flung into one of the unbroken walls with powerful force just as he was about to take aim at the blond’s heart. The sound of cracking glass rippled all throughout the corridor. By then, the puppet’s eardrums had begun to ache from the seemingly endless thunder of his battle.

It was as if he was lost at sea during a dark storm that continued to rage on uncontrollably. And the force that had set him free of the warrior puppets reminded him of a natural disaster set on destroying everything in its path. It was the sort of power that could just as easily turn him to dust in the end. Then the monster he still hadn’t classified as a hallucination or a real man was suddenly standing over him.

“Do you want to live?”

The vision in his blue eye was entirely achromatic apart from the crimson liquid surrounding him and the crimson eyes of the beast. Somehow even the sound pounding against his eardrums had taken on a crimson tinge. Then his vision began to blur as if a flurry of ashes were settling over his eye.

“Yes, of course.”

Although he was certain it was his voice answering at that moment, it was difficult for him to distinguish if the conversation itself was real or yet another delusion.

“Even if that means killing any and everyone who gets in your way?”

Is this the voice all humans hear before they die? “I...”

The monster’s voice had penetrated his subconscious enough to finally take root in his mind. As Nix offered the beast yet another answer, it smiled down at him. Then its mocking laughter echoed at a deafening volume out of its wide mouth.

To Nix, the smile was far too sharp to be mistaken for human, and it reeked of a foulness that almost made him vomit. Even more blood flowed out from between the monster’s lips as it swiftly hoisted the puppet up from the ground and tossed him into its mouth whole before he could even catch his breath.

He felt his throat roar without actually making a sound until the silence formed a small bubble around him inside the river of blood guiding him to sink further and further into the pits of the beast.

“Then kill. Kill. Kill anything that blocks your path. That is our way.”

A black ghost. A black monster. A black demon. A black grim reaper. That which was neither reality nor hallucination seemed to entangle the youth. He moved his body without feeling certain of whether he was doing so on his own or through the strength of someone else.

Right...

He already had enough of pleading and begging to be saved once. He was sick and tired of being made to feel helpless and pitiful on his hands and knees. He had to kill if he didn’t want to get crushed under Noel’s heel again.

If I don’t, then... Noel will kill me!

“N-Nix...”

A thin voice suddenly slipped into his ear. The black fog that had clouded his thoughts slowly dissipated, then he froze as the sight unfolding before him became clearer in his view.

The Gold Master was spastically trembling beneath him and seemed unable to utter so much as a whimper. His body was also covered from head to toe in brutal slash marks. As the scene sharpened in Nix’s blue eye, the foul smell of bloodshed snaked into his nostrils. Then a sharp pain jolted through the hand he was using to clutch a shard of broken glass.

Although his hands were covered in blood, the thick red liquid soaking his face, body, and the floor around him clearly belonged to his former master. The moment the reality of his actions finally registered in his mind, the tension in his hand completely disappeared.

Huh? What am I doing?

His eye quivered as it repeatedly went in and out of focus. He began to gasp for air as he watched the Gold Master’s chest heave just before the young leader’s lips spit up even more blood.

Committing murder had always been easy for Nix, but at that moment he wasn’t entirely “Nix.” Whatever seemed to have taken possession of him just then was not the heart and mind of the puppet, but rather... Even so, the young Vertium leader remained to be the man who gave life to Nix’s once lifeless body.

“Achille.”

Just then, a man mysteriously appeared within feet of where he was crouching and spoke that foreign yet familiar name to him softly. As soon as it reached his ears, the teen’s body trembled as if ecstasy was traveling down his spine on a single bolt of lightning.

“What are you waiting for?”

Could this be any more ironic?