Chapter 31: Maple puppeteer.

“This boy is such a buffoon.” Casandra laughed out loud as she clung on to Okimodo’s back, a wingless butterfly squirming in her mouth. She had jumped on to the young shang rokai’s back as he flew away from her useless partner Tristan who slumped around in the water like a dumbass. She had used her wingless butterfly to make herself undetectable to the Azurai boy, as well as alter his thoughts to make him not kill Tristan. The only thing she had to do now was wait for him to catch up to the crimson duchess and then sneak on board where she would find and kill Benjamin. Her black hair fluttered in the wind as her ember eyes stared on into the rapidly approaching end of the bridge.

As Okimodo flew along the bridge towards the coastline and the tunnel, he began to feel slightly dazed. He ultimately ignored this feeling and continued on towards the approaching tunnel.

He swooped down into the dark tunnel before switching to running. After a few seconds he caught up to the crimson duchess and leapt up on to the roof before entering the guard cab.

Turning to face Okimodo as soon as he entered Hiro immediately asked. “You killed every assassin you encountered right?”

Okimodo stretched while yawning and said. “I killed all of the ones a saw. I think that one Maple puppeteer guy might still be alive.”

“What the hell!” Hiro’s jaw hit the floor. “You encountered an assassin from the maple puppet school and didn’t immediately kill him?”

Okimodo clutched his brow as confusion overtook him. “Wait why didn’t I kill that guy?”

At the next moment both Okimodo and Hiro were suddenly paralysed. Shipo who was laying on the couch suddenly found that he himself couldn’t move either.

Unbeknownst to the three of them there was a giant horse puppet standing on the roof of the guard cab along with a dark haired woman in a leather jacket. Cassandra willed carefully for the her horse puppet to restrict the movements of the three super resonators in the guard cab. Due to the restrictions of the maple puppet resonance ability, it was impossible for her to attack anyone while she had three people under her control. She could control one person with no restrictions, but if she wanted to control two people then she’d lose her ability to speak. If she controlled three then she’d lose her ability to fight and if she controlled four she’d lose her ability to move. These restrictions allowed her puppet to become much more powerful Than Tristan’s. Unlike him she had complete and effortless control over the people attached to her strings. All she had to do was locate where Benjamin was and then kill him. Of course since she couldn’t attack anyone while controlling three people, she would need to release one before killing Benjamin swiftly. Naturally she would rather release the woman who was an ordinary human rather than one of the two Azurai who were largely superior in terms of brute strength.

She walked over the edge of the roof to the left side of the carriage before walking horizontally across the windows as she browsed the numerous full compartments from the outside. The train exited the tunnel and hurdled down the evening coastline passing by a small rural village. Failing to find Benjamin in the rear carriage, she continued on to browse until she finally spotted the bastard in the third carriage. Without a hint of hesitation she struck releasing the woman in the guard cab from her control.

The window in Benjamin’s compartment suddenly exploded into millions of shards causing the body guards inside to immediately rush towards it. Using the wingless butterfly, Cassandra slipped her way past the body guards undetected. She crawled along the wall before pouncing on Benjamin who was cowering in the corner. She immediately held him up by his head and drew forth her dagger. Benjamin yelled out at the top of his lungs as she sliced into his neck. In under a second she was a quarter of the way through and then a third. Right when she was about to cut through his spine she felt a hand grab her shoulder before it savagely ripped her back through the shattered window out of the carriage. She was thrown across the fields of a country farm before she crashed into a barnyard. Cassandra groaned as she felt the sting of her shoulder which had been dislocated. She wandered if she had released one of the Azurai by accident.

“You really must think you’re slick.”The icy cold voice of a young woman echoed into the barnyard from outside.

Hiro entered into the barnyard before revealing her true appearance. Long white hair swayed gently in the air as she approached the sneering Cassandra.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Cassandra staggered to her feet before glaring at Hiro.

“You’re just a bunch of lowly assassins.” Hiro sighed. “His life should be taken as a part of the revolution.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes.

The giant horse puppet appeared again suddenly, paralysing Hiro on the spot as it loomed behind her.

“It doesn’t matter if you paralyse me.” Laughed Hiro. “I already attached countless death seeds to your body when I pulled you from the train.”

Cassandra felt herself become weak suddenly. She just had to run in to someone from the school of life and death. She observed herself and now saw countless golden lights all over her clothes and skin. Fortunately she still had the wingless butterfly which was hidden under her tongue.

Hiro suddenly felt a sharp pain come from her shoulder. “What the hell?”

Cassandra began to laugh internally before stepping forward. With the wingless butterfly she had deceived the young woman into draining her death energy instead of her life energy. As a result her injury had been transferred over to Hiro.

Cassandra contemplated on whether or not to attack. Currently she was controlling three people and If she attacked again then she would have to release one. She may not like to admit it but her only option was to set Hiro free in order to kill her. If she released either of the two Azurai then her days were as good as over. Hiro did turn out to be much stronger and faster than she had anticipated but she’d still rather take her chances with Hiro than the shang rokai.

Cassandra made herself completely imperceptible to Hiro before closing in on her. She would have to attack Hiro immediately upon setting her free while making sure to avoid any counter attack. There was also the possibility that Hiro would just run away. She had to be sure that the time between her removing her puppets control and her attacking Hiro was as small as possible. The train was also still hurdling at over one hundred kilometres an hour and would soon exit her maple puppeteer’s range of three kilometres. If that happened then the two shang rokai would be freed and she’d have to go back into hiding with the rest of the persuing assassin’s.

She quickly released Hiro from the thread before stabbing her dagger into the white haired woman’s neck. Unlike her partner Tristan her dagger had no poison on it so she had to force it through all the way to decapitate Hiro. Unfortunately the white haired woman’s body was much more durable than Benjamin’s.

Hiro felt an immense pain as her neck was mutilated. Realising that she was now free she quickly darted back some several dozen metres away from the barnyard’s entrance.

“Crap.” Cassandra cursed having failed to kill Hiro fast enough.

Now out of the wingless butterfly’s range Hiro was once again able to transfer her death energy away. The gushing wound on Hiro’s neck suddenly vanished as she transferred the death energy back to Cassandra.

Cassandra immediately willed for the maple puppeteer to paralyse Hiro a second time. Blood gushed from Cassandra’s neck and her shoulder had dislocated a second time as well. Her vision quickly grew blurry from the blood loss.

“Huh, what’s this?” Hiro felt a sudden surge of death energy come from Okimodo. She had attached a bunch of death seeds to the two shang rokai without them noticing. This was naturally not because she intended to kill them but rather to transfer death energy away from them and heal them if they got injured. And that was exactly what she was about to do. She transferred all of the death energy that came from Okimodo into the body of her approaching enemy.

As Cassandra got closer she suddenly became drowsy before collapsing on the ground. She was out cold.

The horse puppet instantly vanished and Hiro felt herself be freed of its control.

She then quickly dashed over to her unconscious enemy and proceeded to tear her body into various pieces. She wouldn’t make the mistake of not making sure her enemy was dead. She focused her mind and sensed that the rest of the assassins were still far behind in the tunnel. It was likely that they were deliberately keeping their distance from the train due to the presence of the two Azurai. She then returned back to the railway line before darting in the direction of the crimson duchess. With her speed she quickly caught back up to it within a minute before jumping on to the roof and entering the guard cab.

Shipo who was now free to move was supporting Okimodo who appeared as if he could collapse at any moment.

“What happened to you?” Hiro asked urgently.

“I just need to take a little nap.” Okimodo muttered in a slurred voice. “I… I think it’s because I was grazed by that one guy’s dagger. The maple puppeteer guy.”

Beside him Shipo had a dark expression. “Can you not heal him?”

“I can.” Hiro nodded. “I attached some of my death seeds to you two before I left.”

Shipo gave her a slightly distrustful look before responding. “Whatever, just heal him.”

Cassandra floated in a white void surrounded by nothingness. She heard a voice call out to her saying. “How unfortunate that you have died so young, you poor follower of mine.”

“This voice you’re.” Cassandra suddenly felt a warmth envelop her body. “You’re the puppet king.”

“Yes I am.” The voice said. “And I have a proposal for you.”

“Anything you wish my lord.” Cassandra replied.

End of chapter 31.