Seeing Dark Seele like this, Elysia couldn't stop grinning: "Hehehe~ As expected of Seele, the acting is just too good! Especially Dark Seele's tsundere personality—it's simply unbearably cute~"
Everyone in the company agreed with this point.
However…
Pardofelis was the first to speak up: "But this isn't even a blade at all. It's completely not as intense as the previous plots. How did this make Kiana depressed? It couldn't be false advertising, right?"
Kalpas immediately snapped harshly: "What? You really want to eat blade? Should I give you one?"
Pardofelis jumped in fright: "No way, I'm just curious. Cats are curious creatures, you know."
SAKURA actually agreed: "With Director Hessian's death-seeking personality, it shouldn't be this simple, right?"
Unlike them, Aponia—who was taking care of Griseo—fell into deep thought.
She glanced at Hessian sitting by the door. Based on her understanding of this man, as long as he could guarantee his own safety, he would absolutely never sit in that kind of position—at the very least, he should be closer to SAKURA…
Which meant… whatever he was doing in this episode was on a level where even SAKURA, his bodyguard, might turn against him.
In other words… the real blade hadn't started yet?
No!
The man had already assumed a posture ready to flee at any moment. That meant the real blade was about to begin right now.
She looked at the others again. Kalpas, who had been sharpening his blade earlier, had already relaxed.
Those who had previously been gnashing their teeth, itching to blade him, were now all immersed in how cute Seele was.
They'd all been numbed!
They still had no idea the real danger was approaching!
Having understood all this, Aponia became even more eager to see how everyone would react when they witnessed the blade that was coming.
She looked expectantly toward the TV.
On the TV, Seele finished reporting everything that had happened in the Theater of Domination.
The scene then switched back inside the Theater of Domination.
Rustle rustle, rustle rustle.
The air was filled with noise—sounds of hard objects clashing, mechanisms opening and closing, joints twisting… The sound of wood striking wood dominated this small space.
No light, no temperature, no life, no awareness.
This miscellaneous noise was like a water droplet falling into a dark, clear spring, stirring up endless ripples.
Creak—creak—countless sounds followed.
Sounds of hard objects clashing, mechanisms opening and closing, joints twisting…
Creaking, hundreds upon thousands, noisy and chaotic, the sound of wood striking wood.
It rang out in this space that had nothing—
"Silence! Silence!" One puppet stood at the judge's bench, continuously banging a wooden gavel on the wooden desk.
The puppets sitting in the audience seats were all dissatisfied: "Hey! Why do you get to sit so high up?"
"That's right! Get down here!"
The puppet at the judge's bench said: "First, as usual, today is the day to synchronize our current status and formulate the next course of action."
A puppet in the audience seats said: "What's there to synchronize? Isn't it always the same? Just cause a little destruction here, a little there."
Its words drew agreement from many puppets: "Yeah, it's all just petty stuff. We're Herrschers! Aren't we supposed to destroy the ugly ant civilization?"
Some puppets didn't care at all: "Sigh, they're starting to argue again. I have something tonight, so I'm leaving first. Just tell me later if anything comes up."
"Huh? Who are you? I don't know you."
No one was listening to the puppet at the judge's bench.
Every single one here was immersed in the role they were playing, in this Theater of Domination, on this stage for a thousand people.
—Perhaps this was far more interesting than who they once were.
The puppet at the judge's bench said: "This week, we successfully destroyed 32 power plants, successively causing power and traffic chaos in more than 20 cities."
"Mr. Landon, one of them was your hometown. You must be very happy. I remember you hated that building since you were little."
A puppet in the audience seats said: "You've got the wrong person. Landon isn't here—he's sitting on the opposite side."
Another puppet in the audience seats said: "You got it wrong too! Landon didn't even come. He was taken out by the Valkyries ages ago!"
The puppet at the judge's bench said: "Thanks to our efforts, 11 more major corporations have applied for bankruptcy—including Arthur's father's company. Thank you, Arthur, for your contribution!"
A puppet in the audience seats said: "Oh! Didn't he always hate his dad for never having time for the family? Now that gentleman doesn't have to go to work anymore, hahaha!"
The puppet at the judge's bench continued: "Special mention: due to our inability to resolve the public security chaos we caused, two countries have already broken out into armed conflict."
A puppet in the audience seats said: "At this rate, civil unrest is only a matter of time."
"Sigh, are these things really because of us? It feels like even if we didn't get involved, those places would have ended up like this anyway."
"Whatever, he already said it, so just treat it as our achievement."
The puppet at the judge's bench completely ignored them and kept going: "Although we encountered quite a bit of interference during operations—tch, those damned Valkyries! We lost many companions. They were recovered, dismantled, and… sigh, I don't want to talk about it anymore…"
"But their efforts will not be in vain! We are still moving toward our set goal!"
"I hope everyone will maintain the status quo, keep up the good work. Soon, the world will change for us!"
Intense applause erupted from below the stage.
Once the applause died down, the puppet at the judge's bench said: "Now, let's formulate the next strategy—"
An excited puppet stood up: "I propose! We've already seized the power of the Herrscher of Reason. We should press the advantage, continue seizing the authorities of other Herrschers, and teach these traitors a lesson!"
"Then, when the time is right, concentrate our fire and launch a full-scale war against Anti-Entropy, Schicksal, and the World Serpent—all of them!"
"Right! Let those guys see how powerful we are!"
"World Serpent? Where did this new organization come from? First time hearing the name."
"Idiot, you don't even know the World Serpent? Hurry up and search your brain."
Seeing the puppets chattering away,
A calm puppet spoke up: "I object. We haven't yet adapted to the authority of the Herrscher of Reason. We should continue guerrilla warfare around the world like before, retreating to advance, and slowly get used to using the power."
This proposal immediately gained support: "Right! We can't even build an armored vehicle right now. We'd never win in a frontal battle!"
The excited puppet said: "Cowards! If we do this, we'll just be picked off one by one, gradually reducing our numbers!"
"Blindly charging in is just suicide!"
"Are you saying we can't beat them?!"
The excited puppet charged at the calm puppet, and the two puppets actually started fighting.
The surrounding puppets all began cheering.
"Ooooh! Fight! Fight!"
"Ouch! That one looked like it really hurt."
"Which side do you think will win this time?"
"Count me in, count me in!"
The two puppets punched and kicked with stiff movements, and more and more puppets joined in.
Bang—bang—
The puppet at the judge's bench banged the gavel: "Silence! Silence!! Everyone has their own reasons—but we must settle on a clear decision."
"So according to procedure, we now enter the voting phase—!"
Everyone present stopped moving in unison.
The puppet at the judge's bench: "Those in favor of launching a total attack, raise your hands—"
Some puppets raised their hands.
The puppet at the judge's bench: "Those in favor of continuing to disrupt social order, raise your hands—"
Others raised their hands.
The puppet at the judge's bench was puzzled: "Hmm? Why does it feel like someone raised their hand twice? Whatever, the result is clear anyway. Our next move will be—continuing to disrupt social order!"
The calm puppet let out a long breath: "Phew—scared me to death."
The excited puppet cursed loudly: "Coward!!!"
The puppet at the judge's bench said: "Quiet, quiet! Please rest assured, everyone—no matter the process, the final outcome will not change. Because we are merely exposing the true nature of the world—tearing away the hypocritical surface to show its rotten core to more people."
"Our victory will not be rewritten, because this world cannot be changed!"
"As for Anti-Entropy, Schicksal, the World Serpent…"
"When humanity realizes that so-called goodness is nothing but a scam, they won't need us to act—someone will naturally make these hypocrites pay."
"Meeting adjourned—!"
Seeing these puppets holding their meeting,
The audience all burst into laughter.
"This doesn't look like Herrschers at all. Compared to previous Herrschers, they're basically a bunch of clowns."
"But I have to admit, these puppets feel way too real—like they're people among us."
"Yeah, the sense of déjà vu is too strong. What kind of mood was that dog director in when he wrote this?"
"I've long suspected that dog director has already gone mad. Could a normal person write this kind of plot?"
"Mad is good—best if he dies, that dog thing. At least it's better than blading us like before, right?"
"Speaking of blades… I thought this episode was going to be especially bladed. Now it looks like it'll be the same as the last one—no blade at all."
"Blade my ass, how can there be that many blades!"
"…"
The audience chatted in the fan group.
The drama continued as well. While the puppets carried out their plans, the World Serpent dispatched Mei and Raven to investigate the puppet situation.
At the same time, Anti-Entropy's Theresa and Fu Hua also began their investigation.
The three sides shared information, gradually peeling back the layers and uncovering the true nature of the Herrscher of Domination.
Until several days later.
Salt Lake Base conference hall.
Welt gathered all combat personnel here.
"Today I've called everyone together to synchronize the progress on analyzing the Herrscher cores and to formulate the next strategy based on that. So, Dr. Einstein, Dr. Tesla—"
Einstein spoke up: "Thanks to the puppets that Fu Hua and Theresa brought back, our previous hypothesis has been confirmed."
"To put it in simple terms—the puppets are like an interconnected network, and the Theater of Domination is their shared server."
"The puppets can achieve a certain degree of information sharing with each other. This is their main source of intelligence."
Tesla added: "But it's not absolute. If one is particularly unsociable, it can choose not to share its information with others—we still don't know the exact internal state of the puppets…"
Einstein said: "However, conversely, we can also make use of this network. With the dozens of core samples Anti-Entropy currently has, the lab can now make fairly accurate estimates of the remaining number of puppets and their active locations."
Welt said: "This also means we're no longer in a state where the enemy is hidden while we're exposed. Using this method, we've already detected and eliminated more than ten puppets lurking among the population."
"Once we have information on the enemy's positions and numbers, we can formulate a counterattack plan."
Theresa said: "That sounds like good news. The puppets' combat ability is very weak. As long as we can draw them into a frontal battlefield, we have plenty of ways to win."
Einstein sighed: "But now there's a tricky problem—the puppets' activity has stopped."
Theresa quickly asked: "Stopped… what do you mean?"
Tesla said: "Literal meaning. They stopped. They're not doing anything. No more destruction."
Einstein explained: "That might be one reason, but there's another that concerns me more—the number of puppets has stopped exactly at 500."
"That's precisely half of a thousand. Two days ago, the number of puppets detected dropped from 501 to 500. From that moment on, all activity signals disappeared without warning."
"For two whole days, not a single puppet has appeared."
Welt said: "It's as if they suddenly gave up on their plan—or—their plan has entered a new phase."
Tesla said: "The chaos they've caused so far is already enough to keep the whole world in turmoil for quite a while."
"Destruction is secondary. The most troublesome thing is the chain of group distrust and suspicion that comes with it. People are finding it harder and harder to trust each other."
"Look, even I was locked up outside for half a month."
Welt said: "The current situation is unfavorable to us. We must take the initiative. Continuing with the old method of rushing to the scene whenever a puppet appears won't work. Not only would we be passive in terms of time, but our forces would also be easily dispersed."
"So the best approach is to strike proactively—"
"Gather them into a controllable range and wipe them out in one go."
"That won't be easy. To achieve this, there are essentially only two methods—herding or luring."
"Herding doesn't seem realistic at the moment. The puppets are too scattered and their numbers are far too large. So the only option left is luring. Offer a condition the Herrscher of Domination cannot refuse, and set a trap they will definitely step into."
"Wait!" Theresa interrupted him: "The thing the puppets want… are you saying we need bait?"
"Exactly."
The air instantly fell silent. Everyone held their breath, waiting for Welt's next words.
But he didn't continue. Instead, another voice broke the silence.
"…I'll be the bait."
It was Kiana who spoke.
"What?" Theresa was shocked.
Fu Hua lowered her eyes in silence.
Bronya still wanted to stop her: "Kiana?"
Kiana continued: "The Herrscher of Domination's target is Herrschers. Having two cores makes me undoubtedly very attractive to them."
"This plan was also something I proposed to Mr. Welt."
"Ahem—" Welt cleared his throat: "Allow me to explain. I have no intention of putting Kiana in danger. The plan is to board the Hyperion and head to the Arctic Base—the containment facility proposed by Congress for the Herrscher of the Void."
"Based on previous experience, the puppets will definitely intercept this information."
"The Arctic Base is surrounded by a hundred-mile radius of uninhabited zone, which fundamentally cuts off the conditions for puppets to be born."
"The base is also equipped with an electromagnetic barrier. Puppets cannot establish a connection to the Theater of Domination there."
"Now the Salt Lake Base has also installed the same shielding equipment. In other words—"
"The journey from Salt Lake Base aboard the Hyperion to the Arctic is the only opportunity the puppets will have to seize Kiana's Herrscher authority."
"The choice before them is only two—give up the power of the Herrscher of the Void, or go all out to seize it."
"…Of course, whether the plan will be carried out still requires a joint decision from everyone present."
"I'll cast the first vote in favor," Einstein said directly. "This plan catches them off guard. The puppets won't have extra time to think, and their preparations will be relatively insufficient. Meanwhile, we'll be on the Hyperion the entire time, providing support to Kiana—effectively concentrating our combat power."
"…"
Tesla was silent for a moment, then also voted in favor. It currently seemed like the most reliable plan.
The room fell silent once again.
Kiana looked at everyone: "…Principal, Class Monitor, Bronya, and Seele… I know in your eyes, it seems like I'm always rushing into all kinds of danger."
"But this time is different. I need all of you. I believe in you, I believe in everyone in Anti-Entropy. So I hope you can believe in me too."
"…" Theresa sighed helplessly: "Sigh, silly niece… Of course we believe in you. We always have."
Fu Hua also said: "We just can't help but worry about you."