"Sss"
It seed as though sothing of great importance had been pierced and leaked. All "living things" near the City of Regret heard a strange, light sound.
And when countless ghosts lingering in the Ghostly Mire turned their gaze towards the source of the sound, they were astonished to find that the magnificent giant city, standing in the deepest part of the pale marsh and eternally gushing out black mist, had been inexplicably lopped off a large section...
No! It wasn't cut off!
When an incredibly intense shockwave surged out from the City of Regret, clearing away the fog that had lingered for thousands of years and exposing the pale night sky of the Realm of the Dead, the dead close to the city only then realized.
The gray giant city, with outer walls full of finger marks, had not been cut off by soone, but had instead, like a nail struck by a heavy hamr, been forcefully driven into the pale mire below under so unimaginably heavy pressure!
"Caw!!!"
As the city housing millions of souls collapsed with a thundering crash, countless death-on crows residing on the city walls abandoned their duty of guiding the dead. They cawed strangely and flew away in all directions, colliding and flapping against each other, their feathers drifting down like a black rainstorm over the City of Regret.
Soon after, under the horrified and desperate gazes of innurable dead, millions of souls flooded out like a tide, fleeing desperately in all directions away from the City of Regret.
However, the dreadful entity that had slamd the entire City of Regret into the mire seed unwilling to let these souls go. An aura that made all the dead tremble from their very souls followed the fleeing souls, surging out from the City of Regret!
As if truly being chased by "Death" itself, every soul escaping the city would clutch their chests in anguish and collapse painfully if touched even a little by that intangible, immaterial aura from behind.
And as these fleeing souls tumbled into the mire, a small wooden puppet would erge from their backs, taking their place with faces full of terror, fleeing further afield.
Yet often before they could run far, the forrly collapsed dead would stagger up, eyes rolled back, and under so unknown force, they would leap and capture the fleeing puppets, ruthlessly tearing them into scattered pieces.
And this was not the end. After shredding the wailing puppets to pieces, these beings, who had completely lost their self-awareness and acted like beasts, would grasp every piece they could, crazily stuffing them into their mouths even if it ant scraping their tongues, breaking their teeth, or filling their mouths with blood...
"No! No! No!"
After screaming "no" three tis in utter despair, feeling itself being mostly devoured by the dead, the Wailing Puppet, held in Leon's hand, showed a look of terror and shouted shrilly:
"You can't do this to ! I am the overlord of the Realm of the Dead! Without , you humans..."
"Would be better off."
Borrowing an anomalous item from a trembling Cleaner, Leon transford into a drooling three-headed black dog, broke off a piece from the Wailing Puppet, and tossed it to the eagerly wagging three-headed dog, then announced expressionlessly:
"Even if you were a puppy, it wouldn't matter; today I will kill you, and nobody can stop , that's what I say!"
"You! Lunatic! You madman!!!"
Seeing the unwavering determination to kill in Leon's dark eyes, the Wailing Puppet, never so close to death, let out a scream similar to countless "predecessors," then struggled desperately, attempting self-preservation:
"If you kill ! Those souls filled with regret will be piled up here with nowhere to go! The number of souls born into the mortal world will decrease! Don't you fear..."
"That's a matter for later."
Breaking the Wailing Puppet's wooden leg and tossing the remainder to the three-headed black dog, Leon closed his eyes, feeling the number of remaining puppets, then, imitating the previous tone of the Wailing Puppet, spoke slowly:
"If things really go wrong, well, at worst, I'll co back after I die to take your place here; the effect will be the sa anyway... By the way, where is the Flesh Eater Doe?"
"You?!"
Seeing the undisguised murderous intent in Leon's eyes, the Wailing Puppet instinctively shivered, imdiately understanding his plan.
This madman, even before coming to the Realm of the Dead, had decided to completely give up a quarter of his own soul, willing to kill one for a fair trade, and two for a profit, planning never to return!
Damn horned beast! I fell for your trick, actively provoking such a lunatic!!!
"I know where she is!"
With a rage almost leading to being hard alive, the Wailing Puppet hesitated for less than a millisecond, quickly deciding to betray its ally, biting its teeth to set terms:
"I can take you to find her, but in exchange, you must set free!"
"There's no point in proposing impossible demands."
After breaking off the head of the Wailing Puppet and feeding the remainder to the dog, Leon retrieved his enhancent, returned the anomalous item to the shivering Cleaner beside him, and then focused intently on the puppet's head:
"Listen, though I'll be the one to eventually kill you, if it weren't for that Doe, you might not have been targeted by , so it's considered one of the culprits that caused your demise.
And if you're willing to guide , I'll try to let it die before you, allowing you to avenge sowhat, and you can also lead to a stronger overlord of the Realm of the Dead, to see my soul shattered, avenging another part of you.
So, do you understand? I'm not negotiating, but offering you a chance for revenge. Whether you want to take it or not is up to you."
"Do you take for a fool?"
The Wailing Puppet was outraged upon hearing this.
"I disagree! You never intended to go back! And you're telling all this..."
"Take your ti to think; no need to hurry in answering ."
Pointing his hand toward outside the city, Leon said:
"In about a minute, all the remaining puppets will be torn apart by the dead. I'll wait for you until then... Everyone, step over here a bit."
After calling the Cleaners to co closer and filling each of their Heart Lakes, Leon pointed towards the direction of the Sage's Cetery and advised:
"As long as you walk in that direction and hold on without looking back, you'll reach the Sage's Cetery. There's an old locust tree east of the cetery. Dig open the thirty-eighth grave from the left under the tree; the obsession of the third-generation director lies there, and he might have a way to protect you.
Sorry, I have other things I need to do, so I can't escort you."
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