Veer lost his sense of self as he was plunged into the underground once again. The puppet's strange strings swirled around him as his consciousness slipped away. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a different land.
Everything was on the verge of destruction. He saw yojans stretching ahead, with everything crashing and collapsing around him. The skies had split apart, and something extremely dangerous lurked within the gaps. Somewhere, ice was destroying everything; elsewhere, fire raged unchecked. Huge swords were embedded in giant creatures as though they were already dead. Even the giant hand and the illusion demon were nothing more than ants compared to these colossal beings. Veer felt a strange melancholy wash over him.
Suddenly, agony tore through his body. He raised his head. The moon—this was not the moon he had seen in Drudar. It was split apart, and countless pairs of eyes stared out from the gaps within it. But that was not the strangest part. He saw seven beings whose mere presence made his soul tremble. Each presence felt vaster than the last. He could not discern their features, yet every one of them made him feel suffocated.
As he struggled to control himself, he looked around in shock. Thousands of people were burning themselves alive as they stood in unison, forming a strange circular pattern around him. Is this to protect me? Veer thought. He looked again at the moon, bottled up by the seven beings in the sky, and focused on them. He could barely make out their figures as blood began to flow from his eyes. Who were they? Why was he feeling such terror?
At least three of them were women, and one held an extremely long spear. Suddenly, she made eye contact with Veer. It felt as though his eyes and mind had burst apart. She threw the spear backward toward where he stood. The spear grew to an unfathomable size before dissolving into hundreds of strange spears. Hundreds of people surrounding Veer died as they spoke in unison, "Protect them…"
Suddenly, a man who looked similar to Veer rose into the air. Veer's heart was gripped by cold fear. The man had a calm expression despite being completely battered. Blood flowed from him like rain. As he raised his arms, the night sky trembled violently. Veer felt as though reality itself was collapsing. Hundreds of stars crisscrossed rapidly, starlight connecting them one by one, until a man thousands of yojans tall formed entirely of starlight and extended his hand toward the stars.
The stars continued to warp as the connections deepened. The void, space itself, shuddered violently. Hundreds of cries echoed around Veer.
"No… Master, stop…"
The seven beings finally reacted. Each unleashed something terrifying, and the world began to shatter like glass.
Amid the destruction, a gentle hand caught Veer's hand and whispered, "Brother, I am scared…"
Veer's eyes snapped open. He was back. Fear gripped him so strongly that even his pain began to disappear. His body was being pushed far beyond what a human could withstand.
…..
He saw the puppet across from him as both of them fell. Blood scattered from his stomach, yet he felt no pain—only numbness. His sense of pain was slowly fading.
Suddenly, he grabbed the puppet's head and twisted it midair, somehow gaining the upper position. The puppet froze for a moment, and that was enough. Pain returned as Veer pulled out his sword and kicked the puppet away. It crashed heavily as Veer also fell.
Just before hitting the ground, he used his katana to break the fall, thrusting it into the ground, flipping his body, and landing awkwardly.
He collapsed backward and examined himself. The entire area was slowly collapsing. Parts of the Drudar walls had already fallen.
What had just happened? And what was that dream? Who had called him brother?
Veer's head throbbed as he stopped the bleeding. A strange container fell nearby—it was something Eryssa had once given him. As he thought of her, his expression became unreadable. He picked it up and poured it over himself. His injuries began to heal rapidly.
Where was everyone? It seemed as though everyone had been separated.
He forced himself to walk toward the puppet. It, too, was standing up, clearing rubble from its body. The strange strings began to spread once again. Veer could sense the insane battle between two maniacs far away in the depths of the underground.
Veer thrust his sword before the puppet could fully rise, driving it into its stomach. Blood began to flow.
Huh?
This wasn't what he expected. Why was a puppet bleeding? He had expected it to break. For the first time, dread crept into his heart. It came from his own self behaving strangely. He felt his identity slipping away. What was this?
The puppet laughed, its head jerking rapidly in unnatural directions. It clutched its head and muttered strange sounds. The scene was utterly eerie, and Veer felt his mind going numb again.
The puppet's entire body suddenly glowed. Veer felt something being siphoned from his body through his katana.
With its half-severed head, the puppet muttered, "Soooooo… a star… weaver…"
A terrifying thought struck Veer. The puppet in front of him was himself. How? He could feel fragments of its consciousness.
The puppet extended its hand. Veer lost control of his body and was lifted into the air. He struggled desperately as the puppet's body shone brighter. Suddenly, seven lights were pulled out of Veer's body and absorbed into the puppet. Veer was thrown backward violently.
The puppet's presence exploded. Veer could feel it clearly now. It possessed the same power as his projection.
The puppet picked up the katana and threw it toward Veer, releasing a distorted sound. Then it extended its hand, and a katana formed from pure starlight. Veer was stunned.
The puppet tilted its head and clicked its tongue.
"I'm backkkkkkkk…"
Dread filled Veer as the puppet lunged forward. It was too fast. The void split open as multiple starlight-shaped crosses formed around him. Veer used quickstyle repeatedly to escape, barely avoiding the void that devoured everything behind him.
He took a deep breath and assumed a quickstyle stance, confused.
The puppet was behind him.
It had used his own quickstyle.
Veer was horrified as he barely managed to parry the attacks. Still, he was sent flying and crashed into the ground, vomiting blood.
"So that's how it feels… ahhhh…"
He forced himself to rise. He couldn't fall here.
He tried to activate star vision to locate weak points. A scream tore from his throat as blood streamed from his eyes. Star vision collapsed completely. He couldn't perceive anything.
There was only one explanation.
The puppet had reversed it using overwhelming power.
Veer understood. He was no match. This puppet stood at a level even higher than the grey knights.
There was only one thing left to do.
The singularity slash.
He didn't know if he would survive. Either choice led to death. He laughed softly as memories flooded his mind, one after another, from the moment he first remembered.
He placed his sword in a thrust stance and closed his eyes. The puppet calmly crushed the ground beneath its feet.
Veer gathered everything he had. His limbs began to tear apart. His hands started breaking. His legs gave out as he screamed in agony.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Amidst it all, he heard strange laughter.
The puppet was assuming the same stance.
Two beings now stood mirrored, performing the same attack. Veer poured everything into his strike. His Nadis burst apart as they fed energy directly into the katana.
Both katanas ignited with seven stars. Starlight flooded the underground. Time itself seemed to stop.
Two entities faced each other—one human, one puppet. Same blade. Same starlight. Only the puppet's head was half-severed, threads flowing wildly.
...
In the distance, flower petals sliced through stone as a figure crashed down. The grey knight lay far away. She looked back once before vanishing.
Then two flashes of light erupted.
The bright flash was visible through from many parts.
The entire underground illuminated for a second.
A deafening bang followed.
The Drudar kingdom quaked twice. Walls collapsed. The two strikes pierced through the surface and tore into the distant sky, ripping apart the growing darkness around the kingdom.
The skies split open, and faint rays of sunlight poured into the underground like the gaze of a god.
A puppet stood, broken and laughing strangely. A massive flower bloomed between them, its petals scattering gradually.
A shattered figure lay some distance away, missing his left hand. His body looked as though it had been microsliced. Stone, debris—everything had been reduced to powder. Blood flowed like water.
Veer was unrecognizable.
And barely alive.
Even more a figure coughed out as the petals scattered.It was the woman in red. Her whole body was also scarred. Her dress like armor completely shattered and few pieces were attached to her body. Her hair was torn apart. She looked completely red as she continued to struggle to breathe.
She barely muttered,"Ju...st ho...w mu..ch of a trouble ha..ve yo...u cau....sed...?"
....
Meanwhile Veer could not hear anything.He could not sense anything.He suddenly felt a bit peaceful. He had just one regret.Who was he ?Why was he involved in everything ?
As his consciousness continued to slip by he suddenly felt someone talking to him. He seemed to walk by himself .He could also feel that the puppet was alive. But nothing mattered. Veer felt it was already over. He gradually walked over beside the woman in red who was struggling desperately to even move herself.
Suddenly Veer clenched both his hands as a sword went past both his hands as he grabbed them. Veer felt nothing . The swords impaled him and went passed his stomach. They simultaneously impaled the red haired broken beauty. Veer and the woman both were now completely impaled as Veer felt the last sip of consciousness fade away.