The darkness receded, and Regrator reappeared in his bedroom. However, this time, he was already unconscious.
The once beautiful and magnificent room had become terrifying. The tapestries on its walls were stained with streaks of fresh red, and the red carpet, adorned with gold patterns, was even more so.
The soft fur had become curled and stiff, not only because it was stained with splashed blood, but also because it had been clawed.
On the carpet, Regrator lay quietly. His face still bore an expression of pain, and his left arm was missing.
Looking closely, the severed part of his wound was not the usual fresh red, but rather pitch black. Faintly, one could hear the sizzling sound of flesh being seared coming from it.
The patrolling soldiers once again approached Regrator's residence, and they looked up. They saw a figure still busy at a desk in front of the window.
Everything was normal. Lord Regrator was still working late into the night, and they would patrol until dawn. It seemed today would be another ordinary day...
After dealing with Regrator, the Black Blades set off again, heading to the next somewhat unconventional building.
That building was not as luxurious as Regrator's villa, but its footprint was much larger.
This was a factory, a factory used to manufacture and research puppets. The former Katheryne had emerged from here.
This was Marionette Sandrone's puppet manufacturing factory, and also her residence. For Marionette, who viewed researching puppets as everything, this factory was her best dwelling.
"No problem, let's go," Marionette said indifferently to the man in front of her, who wore a large conical hat and peculiar clothing.
"Heh heh heh, in such a hurry to chase me away? Could it be that one of your useless creations can surpass me?" Balladeer looked at the many unfinished puppets inside the factory and sneered.
This was his first time interacting with this colleague, who ranked lower than him. Previously, his maintenance work had always been handled by Dottore.
Regarding Marionette, Balladeer only knew that her obsession with her research was almost extreme, and her face was always expressionless.
But the more Marionette was like this, the more Balladeer wanted to make her show other expressions. As for the method, it was naturally to criticize her research.
Despite going to such extreme lengths, she could still only create useless things. In Balladeer's opinion, Marionette was a pathetic fellow.
Even though they had only met a few times before.
"Don't make me say it a second time, get out!" The giant puppet behind Marionette stood up, and Marionette, sitting on its hand, was lifted with it.
Marionette had also heard of Balladeer's personality.
Marionette looked down at Balladeer from above, her light blue eyes devoid of any emotion. However, from her demeanor, if Balladeer continued to be so tactless, Marionette would likely really throw him out.
"Alright, alright. I wish you an early success in researching a fool who can chat with you," Balladeer said with a smirk, touching the brim of his hat, preparing to leave.
But just then, an unexpected change occurred!
A figure suddenly appeared next to the giant puppet's arm. Her height was not much less than that of the giant puppet.
She stretched out her slender arm and dragged Marionette, who was sitting on the puppet's palm, down.
Her hidden aura and immense power caught everyone off guard. Neither Balladeer nor the puppet behind Marionette reacted in time.
Click! A crisp sound of wood breaking rang out, and one of Marionette's arms fell off.
There was no blood, no cries of pain. Everything that had just happened was like simply detaching the arm of an emotionless puppet.
"Interesting," Lu casually burned the lifelike Damselette's arm in her hand. She looked at Marionette, who was staring at her from her other hand.
Such a beautiful fellow. Since that's the case, besides her, all the others should just be destroyed.
"Big Sis, how is it?" Lu asked, holding Marionette, while dodging a heavy punch from the giant puppet in front of her.
"Not enough, we need one-eighth of her soul," Alecto frowned. What a troublesome fellow. Couldn't she just be a good person and let them chop off a hand?
"Understood!" Lu smiled brightly, then jumped onto the shoulder of the berserk giant puppet.
Fighting such a clumsy opponent allowed her to best utilize her speed advantage as a Black Blade.
A ferocious Black Blade dagger, like a Sword, appeared in Lu's hand. On the blade, raging black flames began to burn continuously.
Lu stabbed down, and the giant puppet swung its massive fist towards Lu on its shoulder. A very wise choice, but there was more than one Black Blade.
The pressure from the giant fist made Lu abandon further attack. But after the giant puppet, two Black Blades suddenly appeared!
Daggers Burning with black flames were plunged into the puppet's body, and surging black flames erupted, Burning everything to ash.
"Hmph!" Marionette, held in Lu's hand, let out a muffled grunt, and a flicker of emotion finally appeared on her expressionless face. Of course, it was only a flicker.
Lu didn't pay attention to the changes in Marionette in her hand. Such experiences would happen many more times.
"Whoosh!" The sound of wind came from afar, but Lu didn't pay attention. Because she believed someone would stop it.
"Bang!" A light green wind blade collided with a condensed white wind bullet. The two canceled each other out, leaving only faint wisps of scattered wind.
Stormblade — a lost combat technique of Stormveil. It wraps a weapon in a stormblade, releasing a storm forward, and can be cast continuously.
Another identical figure appeared in the factory. Balladeer and Marionette, seeing the four people who were almost carved from the same mold, all showed expressions of astonishment.
However, they quickly recovered. No matter how peculiar, they were still enemies! And extremely troublesome enemies!
"Haha, what an old-fashioned outfit, your taste is terrible!" Balladeer mocked the Black Blades' attire while fighting in the Sky.
His favorite thing was to watch the enemies below from the Sky, unable to do anything but hastily dodge his attacks.
This feeling of looking down from above made him feel like a god. And Balladeer always believed that one day, he too could become a god.
The Black Blades on the ground said nothing. In battle, they preferred to remain silent.
Moreover, there was no need to refute the fellow above. Victory was fought for, not spoken. Besides, the fellow above was about to lose.
"Haha, you... you..." Balladeer, flying in the Sky, suddenly stiffened.
He looked at the dagger tip protruding from his chest and tried to turn his head. And behind him, a Black Blade had plunged a dagger into his body.
"Thud!" Balladeer fell from the Sky to the ground. His energy core was destroyed, and now nothing could support the operation of his machine body.
Marionette, held in Lu's hand, saw five identical figures appear before her and stopped the operation of the Gnosis at her waist.
These fellows in front of her were not only powerful but also specialized in assassination. If it were one, she would definitely fight back. If it were two, she would also fight desperately. But if it were five, she had no hope of escape.
"Who are you? I don't recall having any contact with you," Marionette looked up at the five figures in front of her, her voice still emotionless.
"Recall your soul, to save us the trouble," an equally emotionless female voice reached Marionette's ears.
However, what surprised her was that even though the five people were right in front of her, she couldn't distinguish whose voice it was.
Marionette showed no reaction to the Black Blade's words. Under such circumstances, gathering her consciousness would be tantamount to suicide, and she would not do it.
"Woo—" Suddenly, a piercing and prolonged loud song sounded from afar.
The song was like a key, activating the sleeping giant that was the Fatui. Loud assembly calls, chaotic footsteps, crisp bolt actions... countless sounds reached the Black Blades' ears, lingering on and on.
"If you five escape now, you might still get away," Marionette said, looking at the five people who remained unchanged, as if reminding them.
But obviously, her words were useless. Because the five people in front of her were attracted by something more important.
"Telling us to go back, what a joke?"
"Why so fast? I haven't had enough of this world yet."
"Hey! Big Sis, can we make a big fuss now?"
"Hmm..., within the framework set by the King, we can make a fuss."
...Countless identical voices spoke different words. Marionette looked up, and she saw five figures turn into eleven.
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