The moment they stepped through the gateway, Valor found himself staring at a uniquely haunting graveyard.
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Most of the tombstones were short and weathered, surrounded by rows of ancient, dried-up trees.
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What instantly caught his attention, however, was the light fog clinging to the ground. The mist didn't obstruct their vision, but instead gave the entire burial ground somewhat of a strange, heavy, dew-like atmosphere.
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George checked his stopwatch once more. "We better hurry. We'll need to spread out."
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Sinclair turned on his heel, preparing to slip away into the mist, when Valor quickly spoke up. "What exactly does our target look like? What are his characteristics?"
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George stuffed the stopwatch back into his vest pocket and looked at him. "If you had been at the briefing, you would already know. But for safety's sake: look for a madman. Though, honestly, be careful—he might be far worse than just a madman."
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With that parting warning, the two Watchers walked away into the haze, leaving Valor completely alone with the graveyard fog and his own thoughts.
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"Well, at least I have a solid lead on what kind of person I'm looking for..."
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He shoved his hands deep into his coat pockets, glancing sideways across the rows of graves before letting out a quiet sigh.
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Unfortunately, there were no hidden buttons in the mind of a forgotten memory to instantly press on, so as to recall.
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"Talk about being a member of the Watchers and not even knowing what to do," he mumbled to himself. "This is worse than anything."
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Valor scanned his surroundings, trying to decide where to begin his search.
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As his eyes darted over the plot, his heart skipped a beat:
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Sitting casually on top of a nearby tombstone was a familiar figure in colorful clothes, adorned with the unmistakable patterns of spades and hearts.
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Valor's eyes widened. "You!"
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The puppet master from the alley was sitting right in front of him,
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"Ooh, my good Sir! It would seem our paths keep crossing. How strange," the puppeteer remarked, offering a smile.
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Valor shook his head, his guard instantly going up. "Crossing paths? You were the one who kept disappearing without a trace. You vanished before I could even pay you for the first story, let alone ask for another."
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Faced with the blunt truth of his actions, the puppet master simply tilted his head. "Oh! My! There might be some sort of slight confusion there, but why don't we leave the past behind us?"
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"Leave the past behind us? Whatever you say. Right now, that doesn't matter to me," Valor said, taking a step closer. "But how do you know about the Lord of the Night? There has to be a logical explanation for how a street puppeteer possesses that kind of information."
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"Like I said, my good Sir, what is it but a story?" The puppet master rolled the edge of his split black-and-red hair between his fingers, speaking with a tone that almost seemed to shock himself. "How does a beggar know the exact reasons to place coins in a bowl? It is all because a tale was told, and then it was practiced. It's just a story; a fable!"
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Up close, Valor could see the man's frail frame clearly, but what truly caught his eye was the puppeteer's striking heterochromia—one eye pitch black, the other a stark red, perfectly matching the card symbols on his clothes.
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The puppet master narrowed his mismatched eyes at Valor. "You seem lost."
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Valor countered instantly. "Lost? At least I have an actual purpose for being here, unlike you. What is a puppet master even doing in an old graveyard?"
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"Why wouldn't I be here in the very first place? Huh?" The man chuckled, pointing down at the stone beneath him. "This is the lovely burial ground of my one and only precious."
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Valor frowned. "You have someone buried here?"
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"Of course, not! But, My good Sir. It is a burial ground, after all," the puppet master replied smoothly. "So, various precious would be laid here."
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Valor shook his head.
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He remembered George's warning that they were completely out of time, and standing around debating with an eccentric in a cemetery was exactly what his partner meant by being careless.
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But just as Valor was about to break off the conversation, the puppet master pointed a finger toward the expanse of the graveyard.
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"Just as so many have already died, so many more will die soon. The graves will have no room left to bury their bodies, nor will the hospitals have the space to hold them."
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The sudden, chilling seriousness in the puppeteer's voice caught Valor completely off guard. "Are you saying we are on the verge of a massive outbreak? Some kind of serious—"
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The moment Valor blinked, the figure vanished.
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The puppet master was gone. Again.
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This time, Valor didn't even feel shocked. Given the existence of dimensional gateways and the sheer bizarre nature of this new world, a constantly vanishing puppeteer was just par for the course.
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"That's just how things are here, apparently," Valor muttered, his mind heavy. "But I need to keep that warning in mind. Something terrible is about to happen to this.. City? Town? But it's coming."
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He forced himself to take a step forward into the haze.
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Before he had walked far, a frantic figure he could see through the mist. The man was on his knees, desperately digging through the dirt in front of a cracked tombstone.
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"I don't have enough time! I don't have enough time!" the man muttered continuously, his fingernails breaking off with each digging.
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Valor hadn't even had the chance to hide before the digger suddenly snapped his head straight in his direction.
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The man's eyes were wild with terror, and he began to frantically shake his head. "Please! I haven't completed my work! I can't leave yet! Please, don't take me away! My life... I can lengthen it... if I can just consume a soul right now... I can..."
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Valor stared at the man in profound shock. The target sounded utterly consumed by desperation.
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With his messy, dirty-blonde hair and clothes heavily stained with mud, he looked pathetic, pleading as if he believed Valor was a literal manifestation of Death.
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"Hey, just calm down, okay?" Valor said, holding up his hands.
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'Definitely, this has to be the Madman!' He took a cautious step backward; seeing the manic intensity in the man's eyes, he knew he couldn't risk getting any closer.
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The man suddenly brought out a stopwatch of his own, pointing it aggressively at Valor. "See? It's not time yet!" He then swung his arm, pointing toward a dark corner of the cemetery. "I'll go consume a soul over there! I will stay over there to stay alive, and you... you will stay far away from me!"
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'I can't reason with this guy right now. He's way crazier than I ever expected,' Valor thought.
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His hopes of having a normal, informative conversation to unlock his memories were slowly becoming an impossible quest.
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The blonde man slammed his thumb between his teeth and bit down violently, tearing the skin, "Yes! I know how to stay alive,"
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Blood from the cut dropped on the earth after those words, followed:
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"This curse might wear me down," the madman chanted, his voice distorted with rage and fear, "but it won't wear off my courage to fight!"
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Valor rapidly backpedaled as a low, violent vibration began to rumble beneath his boots.
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The ground began to shake the moment the target's voice sounded,
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"Rise from the dirt, bones of the dead!"10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLUINSvsdb
and then Add to home screen.