LotM: Surviving as a Marionette

The Black Knight surveyed the corrupted, decaying limbs scattered around before turning his deep, maddened crimson eyes toward the magician emerging from the shadows.

"Unexpected. This guest's performance was quite spectacular."

To everyone's surprise, the magician wasn't angry at the dismembered monstrosity—instead, he clapped enthusiastically, his expression exaggerated as if genuinely amazed by the Black Knight's feat. His entire body language radiated admiration.

Yet something felt off.

After all, no normal magician would slowly inflate like a balloon when expressing shock and awe.

As the magician applauded, the audience followed suit. Thunderous applause erupted, but the Black Knight noticed something unusual—the corrupted flesh chunks of the monster were vanishing.

"Where are they going?"

The hoarse, grating voice was heard only by himself. He couldn't trace where those monstrous remains had disappeared to.

Slowly turning his head, the Black Knight's gaze locked onto the inflating magician.

Don observed the bloated figure on stage. "System, do you think merely defeating that stitched abomination counts as a miracle?"

[In mysticism, miracles are generally defined as events that exceed one's own sequence level—feats considered impossible, improbable, or achievable only under extremely difficult conditions.]

The concept of miracles was broad in mysticism, but clearly, none of the above definitions applied here.

For a Sequence 4 Beyonder, slaying that monstrosity fell well within their capabilities—hardly a miracle.

While the stitched creature posed a significant threat to mid-to-low-sequence Beyonders, for a demigod of high sequence, killing such a monster wasn't particularly challenging.

"So, it's about challenging the impossible," Don mused inwardly.

This was the acting principle of Sequence 7: Magician.

A Miracle Invoker's abilities were essentially an upgraded version—fulfilling what others deemed "impossible."

That was one form of miracle.

The magician's inflation showed no signs of stopping. His cheeks bulged grotesquely, his body ballooning into a sphere as his formal attire strained and tore. Limbs and organs spewed from his ears, mouth, and nose—red, white, blue, green—more grotesque than any Rose Bishop's flesh magic, more visceral than any blood ritual.

"And now, Mr. Kayo Wilkins will present us with an even grander—"

Don's spiritual intuition screamed. He immediately lowered his head, avoiding the sight on stage. "That's...!"

"—performance!"

"A mythical creature!"

The magician's body reached its limit upon uttering those final words. Like an overinflated balloon pricked by a mischievous child's sharp object, he burst apart violently.

An even more terrifying, more indescribable monstrosity emerged—a grotesque patchwork of shoddy modifications.

It bore multiple heads, but unlike the previous creature, its composition wasn't limited to animal parts. Human limbs and skulls were embedded throughout its form.

No—compared to a mere stitched abomination, this resembled a massive sphere of fused flesh chunks.

Agony, terror, madness, trembling—layers of emotions intertwined, radiating an unspeakable aura.

"Ugh—"

An untimely retching sound broke through the frenzied crowd.

"Ahhh—!"

Someone screamed.

Those who hadn't shut their eyes in time and glimpsed the mythical creature's form were instantly assaulted by a flood of jumbled knowledge, their bodies twisting uncontrollably.

The surrounding marionettes ceased their cheers.

A young man who had only caught a peripheral glimpse—suffering marginal contamination—stared in horror at his companions.

Flesh buds sprouted across his skin, scales and feathers emerging as a sulfurous stench emanated from his body. Multi-colored anomalies erupted from his form—clear signs of mythical creature contamination.

"No, please—"

One hand grabbed his hair. Another seized his neck. Countless hands tore at his body as innumerable marionettes watched, their Spirit Body Threads drifting upward toward the boundless dome.

"Miracle! Miracle! The miracle of life! The miracle of creation!"

"AHHHHH—!"

The sound of rending flesh mingled with the gradual emergence of contaminated Beyonder characteristics, now cradled like treasures by the surrounding marionettes.

He wasn't alone. Nearly one-fifth of the audience—those who hadn't averted their gaze quickly enough—now teetered on the brink of losing control after glimpsing the incomplete mythical form. The marionettes made swift work of them.

"What sequence level must a Sequence 4 defeat for it to count as a miracle?"

Don already had his answer.

Could a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker create Sequence 3 marionettes? The answer was obvious.

While that abomination might not match a True Sequence 3, this amalgamation of flesh was clearly no ordinary Sequence 4 either.

"Earlier, a Sequence 4 Devil from the Abyss pathway died here."

Keeping his head lowered, Don instructed the System:

'Run an appraisal on that thing above us. Check if it has demonic traits.'

[Got it!]

Seconds later, the System reported back. [Host, affirmative. And that creature carries traces of multiple other pathways at Demigod level.]

'There's no way this many demigod-level Beyonders perished in Tingen.' Don's expression darkened. "If so, the churches would've dispatched high-sequence investigators long ago—possibly even Saints or earthly angels."

"These must be Demigods who fell during the War of the Four Emperors, now trapped as eternal spectators in this 'Theater With Curtains That Never Draw,' becoming part of its composition."

"Now this is a true chimera—and not your run-of-the-mill variety."

A fusion of various mythical creature parts—a "miracle" of biological engineering?

Since when could Miracle Invoker get this creative?

Don scribbled notes on parchment.

The battle onstage lasted only briefly. With a pained grunt, the towering Black Knight was sent flying off the platform.

Yet he didn't die.

Half his body had turned to pulp, his armor shattered, while bizarre growths sprouted across his form—residue from contamination by multiple demigod-level powers.

Though severely wounded, the writhing flesh mass of the mythical creature didn't finish him off.

As a Sequence 4 of the Hanged Man pathway, the Black Knight possessed extraordinary spirit-damaging abilities, remarkable regeneration, and mastery over advanced flesh magic. Having heard the True Creator's voice, he also resisted contamination and ravings from other pathways.

Moreover, the Hanged Man pathway's preceding sequence was Shepherd.

And Shepherds could "shepherd" Beyonders from other pathways.

Wielding multi-path abilities against this deformed mythical creature—even one assembled from demigod remnants—the Black Knight held his ground. The pulsating flesh mass wasn't entirely lifeless; it too had a spirit.

Where spirits existed, the Black Knight could inflict harm.

This would inevitably be a mutually destructive battle.

Of course, their power levels remained mismatched. Yet he'd become the first Beyonder to walk off that stage alive.

But escape still eluded him.

(Chapter End)