When Eros stood up once again.. Some of the Wielders felt relieved because their hope of winning had returned. They were at awe due to the fact that he survived a head-on lightning strike.
However, Veritas felt very alarmed, he then warned the Wielders around him of the situation happening in front of them.
"Wielders! That is not Eros anymore... He was turned into a Puppet."
The Wielders were bewildered by this and their faces of hope soon turned to dread. They thought that if Eros could be taken down, then how would they even stand a chance. Eros was considered as the strongest Wielder in their Investigation Agency.
The resolve of the Wielders started to falter, some of them looked scared and distraught. The Enchanting effect was beginning to run off too, Veritas looked back at the lounge and saw Calida struggling.
The battle was taking a bad turn!
The Puppeteer did not let this fluctuation amongst the Wielder's morale to be wasted. It controlled its fingers and suddenly Eros began to move wildly.
Veritas could simply cut off the strings controlling Eros, but he was currently in a clash with other invisible strings in the area.
He needed to be closer in order to secure a clean cut.
'This Puppeteer bastard..'
The strength of the rogue Pathbearer was out of everyone's league. They were only of Impure Rank and Veritas speculated that this Pathbearer was a Pure Rank with a brimming soul.
'He's one step away from ascending!'
Veritas assessed the situation further and came up with a shocking conclusion.
'This bastard is using us for his ritual!'
He did not know the specifics of the ritual, but Veritas knew that he had to stop it. If the Puppeteer were to ascend further, who knows what heinous acts could happen in Elrod!
The wild charge of Eros was directed towards Lino, who was still resting. But, Lino did not waste any time and he strolled back towards the Agency.
While running, Lino shot metal balls towards the bloodlusted Eros' direction. It weighs on his mind that they have already lost 2 Wielders. Jacque is a really crucial piece in this operation, but he felt useless knowing that he had not noticed the Wielder getting controlled.
Then, underneath Eros, spikes of earth immediately pillared. They tried to pierce his legs, but the hardness of his skin was impeccable!
A Wielder from Group 2 raised his hand in a pointing gesture, then.. stone spikes were conjured and flew quickly towards Eros.
The bloodlusted beast easily deflected this, rendering their efforts useless.
Veritas saw the futile efforts of the Wielders and felt hopeless, yet he felt like there was still something that he could do!
He gazed towards Elisia and asked her if she had already asked for reinforcements.
"I already called every branch! They are on the way.."
"Good."
Veritas and the Wielders only needed to survive for a couple of minutes. After that, reinforcements would arrive and this Puppeteer would not stand a chance!
"Just a little more.."
The endless rampage of Eros was truly a grim sight to behold. His skin was blood red, due to blood seeping out of his skin. His limbs were being forced to move, so they spun and turned, breaking the skin and causing it to turn red.
From here, Veritas could hear his screams.
'He's in agony..'
As for the Puppeteer, it was in a locked-battle with Veritas, strings were getting cut by the Winds, and the Puppeteer could only control Eros as its puppet.
Veritas did not know how long he could last though. Ideally, he needed to last longer than the Puppeteer. That was unlikely because the Puppeteer was at least 1 rank higher than it .
He looked around the lounge and saw 2 individuals, Calida and Elisia.
Elisia was trying her best to call for enforcements and update them on the situation. While Calida was slowly taking a mental strain due to the prolonged use of Enchanting.
Once Calida fell, the battle would be near-impossible to win.
'At this point, we would lose!'
Veritas needed to do something, but he was constantly defending his teammates from being reached by the strings.
He also had to be weary by the indistinguishable string that controlled Jacque.
All at once, Veritas was keeping the integrity of Wind Veil, he was clashing with the Puppeteer's strings, and he was constantly using the Winds to scan his surroundings.
'Ah! I really should've trained with Bello first!'
If he kept acting defensively then nothing would change! Bello had to risk and gamble everything on a single plan!
He had already thought of one, but was unsure whether it would work on the Puppeteer or not..
'If my gamble fails then everyone here would fall.'
First, he had to raise his chances of winning. Eros needed to fall in order for this to happen.
However, it was easier said than done! Even Lino's metal balls could not pierce that monster's skin! They needed a high-power attack or they would not be able to stop that man!
Veritas could do it with Storm Cut but he needed an opening..
"Ah- I need to distract him."
Veritas' spoke out loud and a stoic young man with glasses suddenly showed up on his side.
"I could do it."
Veritas looked bewildered at Szeno's sudden appearance, but he wasted no time getting surprised and stated:
"Are you certain?"
"I am." Szeno said coldly.
Veritas squinted his eyes and decided to entrust him with the task.
"I trust you. Go!"
However, the spectacled young man did not move from his position at all. His face was still stoic and his body stood very still.
'Was he all talk?!'
Veritas slowly doubted the capabilities of Szeno, who talked big but looked like he was cowering in fear.
When suddenly! The figure beside Veritas was vanishing like an illusion or an afterimage! A few seconds passed and the entire body of Szeno was gone!
'Where'd he-'
Veritas glanced upon the red bloodlusted beast and saw it battling... nothing!
It was as if it were punching air!
However, Veritas could feel every Wind around him and felt a beautiful dance. It seemed like the Winds were moving along with a figure, leaving afterimages in its path.
It was Szeno! Who was fighting with Eros as if he were dancing. It was a beautiful dance at that!
'He really can do it!'
Veritas then went on towards the second phase of his plan and commanded Lino.
He already knew of Lino's Attunement and Path. Lino's attunement was something related to manipulating and conjuring metal. As for his Path, it could change the size of objects!
This explains the existence of the small metal balls that Lino was endlessly conjuring.
Veritas speculated that the reason that Lino had not strained his Soul even after he had conjured myriads of metal balls, was because of his Path!
As long as Lino conjured metals of miniature size, his Soul would take a long time to be depleted.
So! Veritas had to take a gamble. Would Lino still have plenty of Soul left to fulfill Veritas' request. Or would he fail, leading to all of their deaths!
'Let's fucking gamble!'
Veritas conjured a wide smile on his face. The elegance that he was showing minutes ago was gone, replaced by a crazed stare towards the Puppeteer.
"Lino, conjure a metal wall as big as possible! Block that Puppeteer's sight at all cost! And everyone who can do the same, do everything to block his sight!"
The Wielders all nodded at the Prince's orders, and Lino looked determined to conjure his wall.
"Szeno! Once the wall has been conjured, fall back!"
The Puppeteer caught wind of Veritas' peculiar orders and thought of what he was scheming. However, it did not have any time to think as a large metal wall was slowly being built in front of him.
"Just what are you planning, Prince Veritas!" the Puppeteer shouted towards Veritas.
"Not telling you! Fucking bastard!"
Veritas then pulled out his tongue and brought out a middle finger in the direction of the Puppeteer.
That mockery was the last thing that the Puppeteer saw because a tall wall blocked his sight of the entire Agency.
On one side, the Wielders and the Prince were located. On the other, Eros and the Puppeteer stood amidst the silence.
The Puppeteer moved its fingers carefully, and Eros jumped towards the metal wall, punching it with great strength.
On the side where Veritas was at, the metal wall was beginning to show fist-sized dents. The integrity of the wall was nothing compared to a bloodlusted monster!
"Prince Veritas, whatever you are plotting, I do hope that it works." Lino said to Veritas.
"It might not even work! Hahahaha!"
Every Wielder in the vicinity stared at the crazed Prince with disbelief, not knowing that he had such a side to him.
Yet, they put all their trust towards him, thinking that somehow it would work.
They awaited his orders but it never came! Veritas stood silent all the time, watching the huge metal wall to be filled with fist-sized dents.
A wide grin was on his face, it was as if he was waiting for the metal to be broken through.
Then! Finally, a red fist punctured the metal wall!
The winds around Veritas suddenly vanished, and everyone started to choke due to the lack of air.
They fell to their knees, coughing loudly and gasping for air.
However, seconds was all Veritas needed in order to conjure his strongest attack.
In mere moments, a loud screech echoed on the bloodied streets of Elrod, and immediately a slash sized hole pierced the large metal wall.
On the other side of the wall, Eros' red body was sliced in half. This halted his efforts to break through the metal wall, and relief filled his once empty eyes.
The Bloodlust was finally felled, Veritas sighed in relief. Now, it was only the Puppeteer to be taken off..
However, Veritas did not take into the fact that the Winds had vanished!
With it, his constant battle against strings was determined to be his loss.
Hundreds upon hundreds of invisible strands of strings were sent out to the bodies of the Wielders. Their limbs were cut, their heads were decapitated, and like Eros, their bodies were cut in half!
The Puppeteer then laughed amidst the silent darkness of the tranquil night, then he provoked the Prince even more!
"A body in exchange for 10 bodies! Quite a fair deal, your majesty!"
Veritas gazed at the scenario in fear.
His plan did not work!