HEALING THE WOUND

The air smelled of ozone and burnt stone. Asimil gasped, propped up on one knee, his left arm hung limp at his side. Through the smoke and flames of the fallen citadel, the elegant figure of the Puppet Master watched him with an amused smile. He was exhausted. He was wounded. But he wasn't broken. How had it come to this?

Hours Before.

The roar of the tower collapsing was deafening. Kenji, Tenshi's boyfriend, had pulled them out of the throne room just in time. They landed on the rooftop of a nearby building, watching in horror at the chaos unfolding below.
The most powerful city in the Altverse, Eldoria, was falling. Not by an army besieging its walls, but from within. Defense golems were now attacking the citizens. Mythological beasts, Griffins, Manticores  appeared out of nowhere, their eyes glowing with the same purple light as Morwen's puppets. The Puppeteer had turned the sanctuary into his own theater of destruction.

— yumi! — Tenshi shouted, her face pale with panic. — She is still in the lab —

Without hesitation, she jumped onto a lower roof, running in the direction of the research wing. Kenji followed her.

— Protect yourselves! We'll be back! — was the last thing he shouted before disappearing.

Luce and Asimil were left alone, overwhelmed by the scale of the catastrophe. It was then, in the distance, in the middle of a burning square, that he saw her. A familiar silhouette. The waving reddish hair, the elegant posture.

— Noelia... — he whispered.

Without thinking, he jumped. He leaped across the rooftops, his only thought was to get to her.

— Asimil, wait, it could be a trap! — shouted Luce, running after him.

He reached the square. And there, standing in the middle of the flames, he saw her. It was her.

— Noelia! — shouted Asimil, running towards her figure.

— ASIMIL, WATCH OUT! —

Luce's warning came too late and at the same time just in time. She tackled him with the force of a battering ram, throwing him to the ground. An instant later, a dozen spikes of black, corrupted ice erupted from "Noelia" chest, right where he would have been.

Asimil stood up, his heart frozen. She was not Noelia. It was a puppet. His face, a perfect copy of hers, twisted into a sadistic smile, and his body moved with the unnatural, broken spasms of a puppet.

Rage, pure and white, drowned her fear. To see Noelia's face used like that, desecrated....

— Damn... you... are... MORWEN! — he roared.

He launched himself into the attack. The puppet was incredibly fast and strong, replicating Noelia's fighting style but with a ruthlessness she never had. It was a deadly dance of blows.

— Asimil, I'll help you! -— shouted Luce, preparing to join in.

— NO! — he shouted at her, his voice a thunder. — Don't interfere! This... I have to do this! —

He fought with all his might, but the puppet was superior. It anticipated his movements, his attacks were relentless. With a sweep, he snatched his battle dagger from his hand, the blade snapping in two as it clattered to the ground.

With no other options, he summoned his second dagger. The Dagger of the Broken Echo.

The world changed. The power of the weapon flowed through him. He became faster, more precise. Now, it was he who had the upper hand, his movements an echo of a warrior he was not. He overtook the puppet, his emerald dagger dancing around it, leaving shallow cuts. It seemed he had finally mastered the power of the dagger.

But then, in the midst of the battle, it dawned on him. The puppet, though it fought with lethal efficiency, had in its eyes a hint of.... sadness. Of confusion. They were residual emotions of the real Noelia, echoes trapped in the copy.

And his anger faded, replaced by a deep pity.

Without saying anything, he put the dagger away.

— Asimil, what are you doing? — Luce shouted, confused.

He began to walk slowly toward the puppet. She, confused by his change of attitude, threw barbed attacks at him. But they did not hit him. They passed inches from his skin, barely grazing him, as if a part of her refused to hit the target.

He was already inches away. She raised a hand to pierce his heart. And then, he embraced her.

He felt the ice spikes sprout all over the puppet's body, encircling his own. Luce let out a scream of horror, but realized that none of the barbs had touched him.

But he had indeed landed a blow

— I'm sorry, Noelia — he whispered.

He buried the Broken Echo Dagger in his back.

There was no explosion. The puppet stood rigid. The sadistic gleam in its eyes faded, replaced by an instant of peace. And then, it slowly disintegrated into particles of light, like butterfly ash.

Seeing her disappear, even if it was a copy, closed a wound inside him. He was no longer that fearful, doubting boy. He was someone different, someone who was willing to take care of what little he had left.

— Bravo. Simply bravo.  What a touching scene! — The Puppeteer arrived, clapping slowly from across the square.

— Congratulations on your small emotional victory, Asimil. But I'm afraid it's not enough to beat me. —

With a wave of his hand, one of the griffin statues in the square came to life, its eyes glowing with the same purple light. The mythological and powerful creature roared and launched an attack of sonic energy.

The last thing Asimil saw was Luce screaming his name as the attack sent him flying close to where she was. It landed with a brutal thud, and the world began to fade into darkness. He had won a battle, but the war... the war had just reminded him how small he was.