Chapter 88: Mission Puppet

"Not all the threads that move us are visible. Some are born of fear, others of guilt... but the most dangerous are those we weave ourselves, convinced that we are doing the right thing."

How far can someone go when they believe their cause is just?
And how far does one fall when, in trying to save others, they become the very monster they swore to destroy?

The stage is set.
The curtain has fallen.
And upon the darkness of a forgotten past, a new play begins—
A play where every actor has already chosen their role,
and every decision may mark an end… or a rebirth.

This is not a simple mission.
It is a confrontation of souls.
A labyrinth of broken truths,
of torn-off masks…
of puppets who, at last, cut their own strings.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The air was thick.
The stench of death and blood clung to the skin like a second layer.

Tenochtitlan was no longer a city…
It was a smoldering corpse stretched across the earth.

The flames still crackled among the ruins, painting the faces of the few survivors in shades of red. Soldiers and civilians lay mixed together—no distinction of uniform or age.
The silence was unnatural, almost sacred.
Broken only by slow, desperate footsteps… or the muted whimpers of the dying.

Shun walked through the charred corpses, stopping in front of the king.
His gaze burned brighter than the fires.

—You knew all of this… didn’t you? —he asked, voice controlled but hands trembling.— Why didn’t you send more forces? Why the hell did you allow all this chaos?

His voice cracked at the end.

—If you had just revealed everything… we could have avoided all these meaningless deaths.

A brutal silence followed—
the kind born between two men broken for different reasons.

Eschatos spoke at last, calm, bearing the weight of someone who had already accepted the price of his decisions.

—All these deaths were necessary… and you know that.
Black Lights has eyes everywhere. Not even the special forces or the Twelve Families are above suspicion. If we made a big move, they would never have approached.

—We would have lost our only chance to hunt them. And you… you wouldn’t be here right now if you didn’t know that.

Shun looked away.
His pressed lips hid an insult he chose not to voice.

In the distance, the improvised camp stretched like a patch sewn onto despair.
Makeshift cots, blood-soaked bandages, muffled screams.
Aphrodite walked among them, taking in the aftermath of a senseless massacre.

—It seems things turned into a real disaster, —she said softly, almost guilty.

Tiresias nodded from where he sat among bandages and map-covered tables.
—Thousands of soldiers… thousands of civilians… it was a massacre in every sense. And we don’t even know what we accomplished. Those bastards escaped and… we couldn’t stop them.

A few meters away, Alexbold lowered his head.
His fingers dug into his palms with rage.

“I had them…”
“I had them in the palm of my hand… and I still couldn’t…”
“Why… why am I so weak?”

—Is she okay? —Yosa asked, trembling as he looked off into the distance.

—Yes, —Tiresias replied, pointing at the unconscious Eris.— If you had taken even a little longer… she wouldn’t have made it.

Yosa exhaled sharply.
His body, rigid from holding everything in, finally broke.
Tears streamed down without permission as his fists clenched tightly.

—Next time… I’ll win.

Tiresias smiled gently—
the kind of smile that needs no words.

On the other side, Zef watched Yohei, who still hadn’t cleaned the blood from his uniform.

—You look torn to pieces.

Yohei nodded heavily.
—I lost… completely… against Zipacna.

Both looked toward Lowa’s bandaged, motionless figure.

—Do you think she’ll be okay?

—Yeah… she’s far stronger than us. She’ll make it through.

Among those still breathing, Tezcatlipoca remained silent.
His eyes… empty. His soul, paused.

—Are you really not going to say anything? —asked Quetzalcóatl, firm but with a hidden tremor.— He loved you more than you ever realized.

The silence stretched on until the traitor finally nodded slowly.
—Yes…

—I can’t be your executioner, —Quetzalcóatl continued.— I can’t hate you. Or wish you the death you clearly crave.
Maybe… in your place, I would’ve done the same.

—I can only tell you this: don’t waste our brother’s sacrifice. Accept your punishment… and make it mean something.

A faint smile formed on Tezcatlipoca’s face. Not relief. Resignation… or perhaps something close to forgiveness.

Not far away, Edén stood frozen before Takahashi’s shattered body.
Darkness surrounded him without touching him, like a reflection of his mind.

“Again…” he thought.
“Again, because of me… they suffered. Because of me, so many died.”

Faces returned like blades: Isaac… Iss… Gen… Yuki… Shu… Shun… Tenzak… Hela…

“I should just disappear.”

A dense, suffocating darkness coiled in his chest. Like a choking serpent, guilt was devouring him.

Until a hand touched his back.
Not a forceful slap.
A presence.
A certainty.

Shun looked at him with a mix of firmness and compassion.

—Why the long face?

Edén slowly turned his head, still barely believing he could breathe.

—How can you be so calm… after all this?

—Who knows, —the pink-haired man replied, offering no real explanation.

—I couldn’t protect them again… all those who died… they had dreams… families…
And I… ripped that away from them.

—You’ve really grown, idiot, —Shun smiled.

—What are you talking about?

—For the first time… your words aren’t about you. They’re about them.
And trust me, that alone… is a huge step.

Edén blinked. Something inside him shifted.

—Do you think they’ll ever forgive me?

—What do you mean?

—I’ve failed so many times… Grek, Nork, Santay… and now this…
The blood of the innocent weighs more than my promises.
If only I had died that day…

Shun’s expression hardened.

—You’d better never say that again, —he snapped.

Edén looked at him, startled.

—Do you really think that would’ve been better?

—Those soldiers who fought Puppet… they knew they didn’t have the strength to change anything.
But they still fought. Because they hoped someone with power… would do it in their place.

The wind blew harder.

—So tell me, Edén…
What do you plan to do now?

The sound of the wind carried ashes over the rubble.

Both of them stood there, alone before a wounded horizon.

Edén lowered his gaze, still trapped in guilt, in emptiness.
—But… they’re already…

—This isn’t over yet, —Shun interrupted, firm.

Edén raised his face, confused.
—What are you talking about?

—Come outside. You’ll understand.

They walked without speaking.
The ruins of Tenochtitlan stretched like living scars across the land, silent witnesses to the tragedy.

Outside, the wind blew violently.
There was no one else—only the two of them.

Shun stopped and pulled something from his pocket.
A small metallic device, polished, glowing with a faint flicker.

Edén recognized it immediately.
—That’s…

—A tracker, —Shun nodded.— This… is our only chance to make sure their deaths weren’t in vain.

Edén’s heart raced.
—Why didn’t you tell me before? If you had… we—!

—Because they wouldn’t allow it, —he cut him off bluntly.

—Huh?

—If I said anything, someone would’ve destroyed it. Or taken it from me. Right now… only you and I know about this. We’re alone in this situation.

Shun’s tone wasn’t desperate.
It was resolute—
as if he had already accepted every possible consequence.

—Even if the price is high, I don’t care. We had to do something…
But I couldn’t leave you out of this. I know how much you want to end all of this, how badly you want to save whatever’s left.

He stepped closer.
His eyes carried no anger—only the full weight of the moment.

—So tell me… are you going to run?

Shun’s gaze pierced through him, steady and unyielding.

—Or will you keep fighting—
to give hope to those who can’t fight anymore?

Edén swallowed hard.
Sweat trickled down his back.
His legs trembled.

Fear wrapped around him…
but beneath it, something deeper stirred: determination.

—I won’t force you, —Shun added.— But if we take too long, they’ll move out of my control field… and it’ll be too late.

—I-I…

Deep within the forest, darkness moved at high speed.
Branches barely brushed against the bodies of the Black Lights members as they fled through the shadows.

Willoc clenched his teeth, cursing under his breath.
—Those bastards… they blocked every escape route…
And not only that… they’re right on our heels!

Yogen ran just behind him, never looking back.
—It doesn’t matter. We’ll be out of their range soon. Once we’re outside their perimeter, no one can follow us.

—Even so… —Bestia added, scanning their surroundings.— It feels like they know exactly where we’re going.
It’s as if… as if they’re tracking us…

The words hung in the air for a second.
Until Puppet stopped abruptly.

His eyes widened.
—They are…

Everyone halted.
The air felt stagnant.
An invisible tension seized the group.

—What? —Yogen looked at him.— What are you talking about?

Puppet didn’t answer.
He stared at the ground, sweating.

—I didn’t think about it until now… but…

Flashback

The memory struck like a jolt.

Puppet unleashed a storm of attacks, laughing, completely unrestrained.
—Come on, come on! Entertain me! —he shouted.

Shun endured every blow. His sword gleamed, cutting with perfect precision.

At one point, Puppet crossed his arms and launched a brutal strike with his threads.
Shun dodged and countered with a rapid sequence of thrusts. One of them struck.

—You bastard! —Puppet spat, stumbling back.

Then, a barrage of energy fragments shot from Shun’s hand.
Puppet blocked most of them… but one hit directly into the open wound.

End of flashback

—Those attacks… —Puppet muttered, placing a hand on his chest.— They weren’t meant to kill me…
—They were meant to implant something…
—A sensor…

Everyone stared at him, pale.

The silence became suffocating.

Yogen felt a shiver crawl up his spine.
—They’re tracking us… through you?

Puppet’s face twisted.
—That damn Shun…

The tension cut through the air like a razor.

Through the misty forest, the Black Lights members moved silently, leaving barely a trace behind.
But they knew—they were being caught up to.

—Damn it… —Yogen growled through clenched teeth.— Those bastards…

—Boss, —Puppet interrupted, his tone unusually calm.

—What?

—It’s better if we split up.

Yogen scowled, irritated.
—What the hell are you talking about!?

Puppet smiled—one of those smiles that always hid something more.
—It’s only a matter of time before they catch us. If we keep going like this, we’ll fail the mission.
We can still accomplish it.

His words weren’t desperate.
They were calculated—steady, almost enthusiastic.

Yogen turned to confront him… but froze.
For the first time, he saw something in Puppet’s expression:
disobedience.

—What are you talking about?

—Thank you, boss, —Puppet said, never breaking eye contact.— But it’s time for me to have some fun.

Silence.

Puppet lifted his hand in a small wave, wearing a crooked grin in his usual tone.
—I hope you reach your dream, my friend.

Yogen’s voice came out rough, loaded with respect.
—We will… Puppet.

—See you in hell, buddy.

And with that, Puppet vanished into the undergrowth—
like a demon returning to its abyss.

Not far away, a reconnaissance squad sprinted through the brush, following the signals.

—Captain! —one of the agents shouted as he approached Shun.— The target made a sudden turn. He split from the group!

Shun’s face sharpened with adrenaline, and a grin curled at the corner of his lips.
—Looks like he finally noticed…

The wind whipped through his pink hair as he clenched his fists with excitement.

—Follow him. They likely divided up.
We can’t waste this chance.

—Yes sir!

Kilometers away, in an improvised camp still stained by the chaos of moments before, a panting soldier burst into the command tent.

—Your Majesty!

Eschatos lifted his eyes from the map covered in red markers.
—What is it?

—Lord Shun escaped with the boy. We suspect they’re… going after Black Lights.

The king barely blinked.
—It doesn’t matter.

—Huh? But Your Majesty! As strong as Lord Shun is… he can’t take on that many warriors of that level!
And we won’t reach them in time if they fall into an ambush!

Eschatos didn’t answer immediately.
He looked at the soldier with a mixture of pity and resignation.
Then he glanced aside, thoughtful.

—You bastard… —he thought.— Is that the idea you’ve planted in these people’s heads, Shun? You’re a first-rate liar…

—Let them do as they please, —he said aloud, voice heavy.— You can’t chain a monster like him. I’m sure he has a plan.

Eschatos closed the map.
—For now, prioritize the wounded. And prepare a platoon… in case things get intense.

—Y-Yes, Your Majesty.

Eschatos sighed, rubbing his face.
—Looks like you’ll never let yourself be caught… monster.

The vegetation grew denser.
Among old roots and sunken stones, Edén and Shun sprinted at full speed.
The sky was barely visible through the foliage.

Suddenly, they stopped before a moss-covered, pitch-black entrance.

—What’s the situation? —Shun asked.

A special-ops agent approached with a tracking slate.
—The sensor stopped here.

Shun frowned.
—What the hell is this place?

—According to our records… an old government laboratory.
It was abandoned many years ago.

Shun smirked—
but not pleasantly.

—That bastard… looks like he’s set up a very entertaining game for us.

Beside him, Edén stepped forward, gripping his sword.
His gaze was no longer what it once was.
Sharper… more aware.

—Thanks for the work, —Shun told the soldier.— From here on… it’s just the two of us.

—It was nothing, Captain.

Shun turned to Edén.
—Ready?

Edén swallowed hard.
—I think so.

Shun’s proud smile appeared instantly.
—Let’s go, idiot.

—You got it, pink-head!

Both unleashed a surge of energy that rustled the nearby leaves, breaking the forest’s silence.
The air shifted.

Inside the cave, a shadow watched them quietly.
Its eyes glowed like burning coals.

—They’d better prepare themselves… —Puppet whispered with a twisted smirk.—
We’re going to have fun.

A disturbing laugh echoed through the stone walls.

And on the floor…
lay a puppet.
Gray hair.
Motionless.