‘Enough of this foolishness!’ Shaitan roared angrily, and a black claw immediately decapitated both puppets. Damien had forgotten how strong and frightening Shaitan truly was in dark areas. He sighed in relief, and waited for the elevator to stop.

‘Damien, listen to me very closely…’ Shaitan started.

...

A while passed, and the doors to the elevator opened. They were on the roof, at the peak of the skyscraper.

Standing near the edge of the roof and looking down off of it, admiring its own personalized version of hell, was a figure. It was a wooden doll like all the others, except it was excessively ornate, looking finely carved and sophisticated. Damien knew that it was the marionette, the origin of all this chaos. Then, it spoke in an almost mechanical voice.

“Beautiful, isn’t it? The screams, the red, the dying. Look at my creation. Isn’t it all so beautiful? AHAHAHAHAH,” it laughed as if possessed, reminiscent of a madman.

“You’re batshit crazy.” Damien said, spitting in disgust.

The marionette turned around to face them.

“I was not addressing you, filthy human. I was speaking to my old friend. So, what do you think, Shaitan? Who would have thought that we would both meet each other here like this.” the marionette said.

‘As usual, your tastes are quite… unique. It is repugnant.’ Shaitan simply said.

The marionette made dramatic and exaggerated gestures, acting like he was shocked.

“Ahhhh. It is a pity. Well, we never really did get along with each other in Hell, anyway. I will take pleasure in killing you, but does no one understand my art? CAN NO ONE SEE ITS TRUE BEAUTY?!” the marionette said, sounding as excited as a mechanical voice possibly could.

“This nutjob almost makes the other demons sound sane…” Damien said, preparing himself and getting into position for the inevitable battle. He knew Shaitan would be useless with the sun shining down on them so intensely.

“Well, let’s get started, shall we? I will bring my Puppet Show to an end, and the finale will be your deaths! AHAHAHAH,” the marionette laughed psychotically, and wires began appearing from between his fingers.

Damien made a mad dash towards the marionette, dodging the barely visible, thin wires attempting to wrap themselves around him. He pulled out the dagger he had hidden from behind his back that he had picked up from one of the wooden dolls from before, and stabbed into the center of the marionette’s forehead.

The marionette fell flat on his back with a dagger in his head, spasmed, and ceased moving.

They were both near the edge of the skyscraper.

“What the hell? That was easier than I thought it’d be. You made it sound like it’d be hard, Shaitan.” Damien said, turning around and beginning to make his way to the elevator.

‘You fool! Dodge!’ Shaitan shouted.

Damien quickly jumped to the side, but it was too late.

The marionette had already risen up from behind him, removed the dagger embedded in his head, and stabbed at him.

Thanks to Damien’s jump, the dagger missed his back and had pierced into his right arm.

“Ahhhh. Such a beautiful red.” the marionette happily said.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Damien quickly turned around with a knife in his arm to find the marionette still very much alive.

‘It’s almost time.’ Shaitan said.

Damien pulled out the knife, the wound in his arm bleeding profusely.

“You should just embrace death, I promise to make it as painful as possible. AHAHAHAH.” the marionette said while laughing. The laughter was seriously beginning to annoy him.

The marionette moved his hand, as if it were conducting an orchestra, and wires flew forth at Damien.

‘Do it now!’ Shaitan shouted.

Damien ran towards the marionette, and threw the knife. The marionette casually took the knife without even trying to make an attempt at dodging it.

“Was that supposed to hurt?” it asked.

“No, but this sure as hell will.” Damien said while grinning.

The knife was a distraction.

He tackled the marionette, and it stumbled before falling off the edge of the roof.

“Do you think I will be defeated so easily? I will see my Puppet Show to its end!” the marionette said while falling, and suddenly wires appeared and sprung forth from the edge of the roof. Damien was unable to dodge them, and the wires wrapped themselves around his arm.

He was slowly being pulled off by them towards the edge of the building.

“Why the hell won’t you just stay down?!” he screamed while being dragged.

*Flashback*

‘Damien, listen to me very closely. This will be an incredibly demanding battle. The light of the sun will be too strong. I will be unable to aid you in this fight.’ Shaitan said.

“You can’t seriously expect me to fight the marionette alone, do you?” he questioned.

‘No, that is why I will now tell you of my plan. I will be observing the clouds. When I give the signal, I want you to push the marionette off of the skyscraper.’

Damien nodded.

*End of flashback*

The wires that bound his arm were suddenly holding onto nothing. His left arm had vanished.

“WHAT?! MY BEAUTIFUL PUPPET SHOW!” the marionette yelled, and fell off the skyscraper.

Shaitan had timed it so that he would have enough power to be able to dematerialize himself using the shadows of a cloud that had drifted on top of them.

At the same moment the marionette had died, the puppets around the area had vanished completely.

“How many demons can you sense nearby?” Damien asked while he took off his shirt and wrapped it around his right arm’s knife wound.

‘None. I do not sense anything. They have all fallen.’ Shaitan replied.

“I see… then, that golem…” Damien lamented.

‘...’ Shaitan remained quiet.

Then, Damien collapsed on the spot. The ordeal had taken too much out of him. They had killed a total of 6 demons thus far.

One of the top contenders for the title of Demon King had just been defeated, and the Puppet Show drew to a close on the same morning of the 3rd day of the rite of the Demon King.

This massacre would later be known all around the world as ‘The Bloody Marionette.’

79 demons remain.