"What do you mean someone is controlling the General?" The Skin asked, sounding like a total fool. He still didn't understand the danger.
"The General... he looks out of it," The Features said, her eyes narrowing as she stared at him. Then she turned to The Structure. "Check the contract between you and him. Now."
The Structure closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, his face was pale. "He is indeed being used. There is someone else's mana inside him."
As soon as they started to panic, Kai released his grip. The connection snapped, and the General's eyes rolled back before he fainted on the floor.
"That damn old man!" The Jaw shouted, looking at the unconscious General. He gestured to a guard. "You! Take him to the clinic."
"He is still useful," The Structure interrupted, his voice deep and heavy.
"What?! Are you saying we should keep him?" The Features screamed, her calm face finally breaking. "He already betrayed us! He's a liability!"
The Structure turned toward her, letting out a low growl that shook the air. "Woman, remember that I am the most powerful person here. You might be the one pulling the strings from the back, but without us, you would be nothing. Be glad you have a brain behind that pretty face, but don't forget your place."
The room went dead silent.
I sat in the lobby, listening to the cracks in their group getting bigger and bigger.
They weren't a team anymore. They were just four people waiting to stab each other in the back.
"Heh, so now you want to take all the power for yourself?" The Features spat out. Her eyes were burning with anger. "Fine. You three are just greedy pigs anyway. Before you can even touch the riches of the Golden Lion, you'll end up choking."
She hated it. She hated that they looked down on her because she was a woman. If she had been born a man, she wouldn't have needed these three idiots. She could have done everything herself instead of being restricted and forced to use them as her tools.
"Well, we all know who the real greedy pig is here," The Jaw said, glancing over at the Skin with a smirk.
He stretched his arms, looking bored. "Honestly, I only joined this for the fun of the game... and for that pretty face of yours. But if you're all going to turn on each other, I'm out. I've had my fun for today."
Without another word, he started walking away, his footsteps echoing in the large room.
I leaned back in my chair in the lobby, a cold smile on my face. The "Mouth" was leaving. The "Structure" was fighting with the "Features." And the "Skin" was too stupid to realize his team was falling apart.
"Perfect," I whispered.
The four pillars were no longer a foundation; they were just a pile of rubble.
It was time for the next step.
"Kai, expose the pig," I whispered.
"Understood," Kai's voice drifted from the shadows, calm and cold.
As The Features and The Structure were busy arguing, something heavy fell from The Skin's thick, expensive clothes. It hit the floor with a metallic clunk, rolling right into the middle of the room for everyone to see.
It was the Golden Stamp.
The room went completely still. The Features stared at the stamp, her face turning pale before flushing with pure rage. She was losing her cool, and Kai was using his power to dial her emotions up to a breaking point.
"What is the meaning of this?!" she screamed, her voice shaking. "I told everyone never to touch that stamp! Only I am allowed to use it! Only I decide when it's gone!"
The Skin didn't even look ashamed. He just stood there, his fat neck covered in heavy gold necklaces and his thick fingers dripping with rings. He gave a greasy smile.
"I'm so sick of you," he growled at her. "Always making us do all the work while you take everything. I just took a little bit of money for myself. It's a good trade."
"I should have known," she hissed.
She reached down and snatched the stamp off the floor, her knuckles white.
I sat back in the lobby, enjoying the show. Now they are destroying the last bit of trust they had.
The "Features" was the brain, but she had just realized her "Skin" was a thief and her "Structure" was a rebel.
"They're finished," I muttered.
The foundation was gone.
The air in the room didn't just turn cold; it broke.
The Features slowly turned her gaze toward the Structure. Her voice was trembling. "You... you betrayed me too?"
She wasn't looking at a stranger. This man had been by her side since the very beginning, back when they were first turning the small king into their puppet. He was the love of her life. Her husband.
"Pfft. What do you mean by 'betrayed'?" he said, a cruel smirk on his face. He looked her dead in the eyes, his gaze freezing. "I was never yours to begin with."
"No... all of this must be a mistake," she whispered. Her legs gave out, and she fell to the floor. "No... You loved me!"
Tears began to stream down her angelic face, ruining the mask of the perfect mastermind.
"I used you," he said, his voice cold and arrogant. "And now, I don't need you anymore."
"So... all of it was fake?"
"Yes," he replied without a single second of hesitation.
Checkmate.
"I see," she whispered. She looked at him one last time and gave a small, sad smile. Before anyone could move, she drew a hidden blade and ended her own life right in front of the man she had spent her entire existence with.
In that moment, a flash of memories seemed to fill the room. Childhood friends playing in the dirt. Teenagers sharing secrets. The day they were married. It was an ending that didn't fit a villain; she should have been executed in front of the people, not dying for a broken heart.
"Kai," I said softly into the shadows. "Release him."
The mind control snapped.
The Structure blinked, his eyes clearing as the fog lifted. He looked down and saw his wife lying in a pool of blood, her life fading fast.
"No... no, no!" He scrambled toward her, his face pale with horror. "What... what did I do?!"
He grabbed a cloth, desperately trying to wipe the blood from her face. She was still breathing, but only barely.
"How could you do this?!" he sobbed, his voice breaking. "That wasn't me! I didn't mean those words! I love you! Please, I love you!"
The woman looked up at him, her hand shaking as she reached out to wipe a tear from his cheek. "I never regretted what I did," she whispered. A small, bloody smile touched her lips. "But now... I know you really loved me. What a foolish thing for us to do."
She looked toward the door, realizing the truth of what was happening. She let out a weak, hollow laugh.
"You won," she whispered.
Then, her hand fell. She stopped breathing.
"NOOOOO!"
The Structure's scream echoed through the halls, full of a pain that no medicine could cure.
I stood up from the velvet chair in the lobby and smoothed out my clothes. The four pillars weren't just broken. They were destroyed.
The play was over. And the real Mastermind was the only one left standing.