In the same capital city of the Diamond Kingdom, beneath the surface where people dwelled, stood a place that looked out of place.
Unlike the militaristic and rich buildings on the surface that looked imposing and regal, the structures beneath the ground prioritized efficiency, with various equipment that nobody had ever seen before.
There were some strange contraptions that were extracting and processing an unknown liquid from the pipes that spanned all over the place. Also, this place was much more heavily guarded than the castle of the king himself, not to mention the intricate traps that were laid all over the place.
Accompanying guards were several humanoid structures that would be called androids in an advanced magicless civilization, but in this world, golem was a word that was better suited for them.
This place would strike anyone with wonder. Even Puppet was not an exception to this.
'They have an entire city built under here!
Don't tell me that they have dwarves working here. Do dwarves even exist here?
Hmm…well, since elves exist here, maybe dwarves exist as well, and are just waiting for the elves to get their pound of flesh from the Clover Kingdom so that they can have their turn as well.'
Puppet shrugged off and observed any path to enter, but…
'There is no opening, at least as far as I can see.
This Morris person is not some normal scheming scientist who managed to fool a King with dreams of false glory.'
His brows became furrowed in thought behind his mask.
'He has a good head on his shoulders, and is not above using dirty tricks.
Then this raises the question as to why that letter was so conveniently left under the King's bed, who should have been long since disposed of.
This smells like a trap to me.'
Puppet concluded with a grim expression, which eased a bit as his mind wandered onto a solution.
'A trap that I have to willingly walk into, with some preparation.
Today is the night of Sunday, so Asta probably has his sword lying around beside him.'
Thinking this, Puppet instantly focused on the base of the Black Bulls, then on Asta's room. From the teleportation circle, Puppet peered into Asta's room and saw two of his swords, basking in moonlight, with a cleaning liquid along with a dirty cloth lying next to them.
Without wasting time, Puppet took out a steel gauntlet from the thin pocket-like bag and equipped it. With the same arm equipped with a metal gauntlet, he took Asta's first sword by its handle and yanked it away.
'Sorry, Asta, I am going to borrow it for a bit.' Puppet apologized as he examined the sword, and grinned a bit, seeing that his magic was still working, just that the hand that held the sword could not be used to cast magic.
'Unlike his second sword that saps magic, this one just cuts it. No aura-based effect, still magic that will be formed around it will be cut as well. Not that it is too much of an issue right now.'
Puppet thought, took a deep breath and…
'Fire Lance'
…stormed the place from the front like a tsunami.
*BOOM*
"EXPLOSION AT THE ENTRANCE!!!! SE-"
*BOOM*
Before the man could finish the entire order, he looked forward and saw his entire vision covered by scorching heat, which was quickly followed by searing heat along with his surroundings.
'123 people dead.'
But Puppet did not waste any time here. Immediately, he looked forward at the gigantic door that divided the sections, and switched his magic.
'Sun Magic: Supernova'
Heat like never struck the door and burned away the door as if it never existed in the first place. This also caused whatever reinforcements behind the door to also become the casualty of the attack.
Those few who were left alive looked at what had happened, unable to process it, and before they could even think about it properly, another attack came their way.
'Photon Cannon'
Unlike other attacks that affected the area around them, this attack was a gigantic drill that only affected the direction it was launched and the area it covered.
But the dangerous thing about this magic was that this beam kept on going on seemingly forward with zero regard for its obstacle until…
*GRRROOOOOWWW*
With a primal sound of rumbling, all of that magic fueling the Photon Cannon started to be sapped at a particular spot, which caused Puppet to stop supplying magic.
When all of it ended, there was a single person flying at the opposite end of Puppet, quite far away, without any harm done to them.
But this was not the only thing.
'That person…he has more mana than even Licht, and it is putrid. Not as bad as I sensed at the scepter, but still bad nonetheless.' Puppet thought with a grim look that was hidden by his mask. His eyes focused on the man, who slowly started to float towards him with no caution against the man who had unleashed a devastating attack that broke through this entire sophisticated facility, if it did not even existed.
"That was quite the attack you did there. I don't recognize having seen such magic before, nor have I ever seen you before. Who are you?"
"…" But Puppet did not entertain his question.
The magic that this strange person used was not something he had seen. For all he knows, maybe answering his question or giving him his name is the trigger for his magic to work.
"A quiet one, are you? Does not matter.
If you are not going to answer, I will ask your corpse.
Anyways, my name is Zenon Zogratis, and I am-"
'Sensory Deprivation'
Before Zenon could finish his sentence, his vision was filled with light unlike anything he had ever seen, which caused him to close his eyes by instinct.
Without wasting the window of opportunity, Puppet followed up.
'World Tree Magic: Mycorrhizal Grid'
'Entropy Lock Zone'
'Photonic Blade'
Three spells followed.
First one planted roots of World Tree Magic inside the ground all around, to absorb mana from the atmosphere and to launch spells from them as well.
The second spell locked any auxiliary magic like Time Magic and Spatial Magic.
The last one launched blades of light at Zenon, who had just come to his senses, but it was far too late.
*TIIII*
*GGGRRROOOOAAA*
Suddenly, Zenon's body was covered by a black aura that intercepted the Photon Blade, and it suddenly disappeared as it had appeared.
Following this, Zenon replied with a bland face, though his tone remained curious.
"That almost got me. You have also sealed my Spatial Magic and are depleting my magic continuously, somehow.
I have to say, you are dangerous."
*WHOOSH*
"Too dangerous to be left alive."
Zenon suddenly appeared in front of Puppet, his whole body covered in some dark aura, with his eyes stilled on Puppet.
For a moment, Puppet even saw some dark figure behind Zenon, but instead of being caught off-guard, Puppet swung the great sword in one of his hands, and struck with it at full force.
*BOOM*
With a resounding boom, Zenon was thrown off his charge and swatted away like a fly.
'What the hell was that Beelzebub? That sword suddenly removed my magic as if it never existed.'
'I don't know Zenon…rrr…Whatever that heretical thing is, it seems to be capable of cutting through magic. Watc-RUN!!!'
Before the pair could complete even their thought, Puppet suddenly appeared in front of them, with a slight change.
Puppet had four arms, one had the anti-magic sword, the second had Galatine, the third wielded Dawnbreaker, and the final arm was covered with Soul Chain, doused in Hellfire.
This person, whose face was covered with a plain mask, looked like a devil to Beelzebub, the devil himself.
Just as Beelzebub shouted, Zenon tried to run away as far as he could, but before he could…
*CRCK*
…he was jabbed in the face carrying Soul Chain, and was shot due to the momentum, but…
*CLING*
…suddenly halted in mid-air and sped towards Puppet because Soul Chain had been wrapped around him in that single punch.
On the other side, Puppet had decided to go all out.
'Sun Magic: High Noon'
With a decrease in his mana that was quickly replenished by the World Tree Magic roots, a miniature Sun was created. But unlike previous times, the purpose of this Sun was not to be used to attack, instead…
'Galatine is a sword that empowers its user in accordance with the Sun, and now the Sun is at high noon, which means the sword is at its peak now.'
Just as the description of the sword had stated, Puppet could feel his body becoming stronger, his senses becoming sharper, and mana becoming so vast that he was not sure that he could ever deplete it.
But Puppet did not bask in his newfound power, instead he positioned himself according to the enemy that was approaching him.
'BEELZEBUB!! EAT HIS MAGIC!!'
'I cannot! This flame is harmful to me! If I eat it, it will burn me!' Beelzebub said, leaving Zenon to his own devices, which Beelzebub thought.
'That idiot Zenon. Wants me to eat this corrosive magic.
Who does he think he is? He is but an expendable host.' Beelzebub sneered as he decided to sit this one fight out, even more so because of the swords that were giving off an aura that made him feel like that he would be purged just by manifesting next to them.
As for Zenon, who was left to himself, he gritted his teeth. With veins popping on his forehead, he shouted.
"I AM NOT GOING DOWN LIKE THIS!!"
Suddenly, bones started to sprout from his body like a porcupine, in the hopes that this would negate most of the damage, as it had done so many times before.
But this was the first time he had happened to run into anti-magic.
Without even blinking, Puppet brought down the anti-magic sword.
*SLLRRR*
"AHHHHH!!!!!"
The sword cut through the bones like paper and slashed at Zenon, who was balled up inside, drawing blood from, and cutting off a hand as well.
"YOU BA-"
*TSSSS*
Zenon was about to say, when he sensed something and his eyes drifted down. He saw Puppet's hand clutching a sword that was stabbed through his heart. Suddenly, blood started to flow from his mouth, choking him, but Zenon could do nothing.
He, who had worked behind the shadows with Morris to bring the Diamond Kingdom to its knees, was not bleeding to death beneath the capital of the same kingdom.
'Hahahahaha! Zenon, you have outlived your purpose, but you have served me well. Hm? What? What is happening? NOOOOOO!!!!!'
Beelzebub, who was inside Zenon's grimoire, started to thrash around as he felt a pull on him that he could not fight against. Not only this, but this pull was actively stealing Beelzebub's power, all the while removing him.
But until the end, he could not do a thing against the pull that crushed him to oblivion.
While this was happening inside the grimoire, in the surface world, Puppet saw that unlike golden emotes of light, a dark cloud slithered into his grimoire that started to produce chains he had never seen before to somehow capture this intangible smoke.
Soon enough, all of the smoke was sucked into the grimoire that floated back into Puppet's hand, who inspected the cover, which had a peculiar addition.
A dark metallic door covered by a chain, covered with unreadable inscriptions.
***
A/N: Yeah, I was BSing in title.
(
I don't care if I kill a future antagonist.
I am writing a strong MC, so he will kill a person who is weaker than him. Also, Zenon's devil factor is nothing against Galatine and Dawnbreaker, so there is that.
)
I will post a bonus chapter.
Future Target:
+200 Powerstones = 1 bonus chapter
+10 Reviews = 1 bonus chapter