Iris charged and drove her spear through the first puppet, piercing it at the joint before it could lift its weapon. Another lunged at her with jagged scissor arms, but she stepped aside, spun, and slammed it to the ground with the blunt end of her spear.
She was not here to clean up the stage.
She was heading straight for the director.
Marionox.
He watched from across the ruins, still and silent.
Then he raised one arm, the one holding the chain, and cracked it through the air.
The dolls moved instantly.
Like dancers on cue, they spun and vaulted through the fog, their movements sharp and synchronized. Two blocked her from the left. One dropped from above and hurled a curved blade toward her head.
Iris ducked, rolled forward, and kicked the throwing puppet into a pile of rubble.
"They're coordinated," she muttered. "He's controlling all of them."
From the far side of the street, Marionox tilted his head.
"Very good," he said, his voice light and theatrical. "But this is only the opening act."
He clapped once, slow and deliberate.
The puppets answered with a synchronized stomp that shook the ground.
From the top of a broken building, Sly dropped into view. His Specter form peeled away from the shadows as he flanked the puppets.
"Looks like you started the party without us."
Gabe landed beside Iris in a flash of fog and wings.
"Thought you'd save a few."
Iris didn't answer. Her eyes stayed locked on Marionox.
The puppet master tilted his head. His mask didn't move, but his voice drifted in from a shattered storefront nearby.
"Ah. The supporting cast has arrived."
He raised both arms.
The puppets twitched.
And the performance began.
Blades and wires cut through the fog. The dolls moved in perfect rhythm, spinning and striking like a choreographed attack. One slid between Gabe's legs and slashed upward. Another vaulted off its back and swung down with a hatchet. Gabe blocked both, but the attacks kept coming.
Sly vanished into shadow, then reappeared behind two puppets, skewering them clean before ducking a flying spear.
"Why does this feel like I just walked into a Chucky family reunion?" he muttered. "Creepy little freaks are everywhere."
Gabe blocked another strike, eyes narrowing at Marionox.
Something was off.
Every weapon they used was sharp. Knives, chains, hooks. Not a single blast. No fire. No impact damage.
He parried a spear and glanced around the ruins.
This city wasn't shredded. It was crushed. Like it had been hit by boulders. Or a meteor shower.
He gritted his teeth.
Were they even fighting the one who destroyed Minawa?
The battle raged through the fog-soaked ruins.
At least two hundred Fades surrounded them. Twisted puppets and broken dolls moved in perfect formation, controlled by Marionox's invisible strings. They spun and struck in unison, blades sweeping through the mist like a living storm. For most Glints, it would have been a death sentence.
But Gabe, Iris, and Sly weren't most Glints.
"We need to keep moving!" Gabe shouted, parrying two blades with a sweep of his talons. "Don't get bogged down!"
"Tell that to her!" Sly called out from the shadows, ducking beneath a flying chain as he slashed through two lunging dolls.
Iris didn't answer.
She was already deep in the fight.
Her Duelist skill was active, aura surging from her armor as she pulled the focus of every puppet around her. Dozens broke away from formation, drawn to her like iron to a magnet. Their rhythm collapsed. What had been a precise assault now turned into chaos.
She didn't wait for them to come. She charged straight into the center.
Her spear moved with brutal efficiency, shattering joints and punching through masks. Each strike pulled another enemy in. Each kill dragged another closer.
"RAAAAH!"
Her scream cut through the battlefield as she drove her weapon through a puppet's chest and kicked it off the blade. She didn't care how many came at her. She didn't care how surrounded she was.
She fought with everything she had.
She fought with grief.
Her father was gone. Maybe her brother too. Her mother was still missing.
She had nothing left to lose.
"Iris, you have to focus!" Gabe shouted, cutting down two Fades that had broken formation.
She didn't listen.
Iris charged again, driving into the crowd. Three puppets spun toward her in perfect sync, blades out. She blocked the first, ducked the second, but the third slashed across her shoulder.
Blood sprayed into the mist.
"Iris!" Sly blinked behind her and yanked her back as another blade sliced past her neck.
"I had it!" she snapped, eyes blazing.
"No, you didn't," he said sharply. "You're not fighting. You're venting."
"Damn right I am!" she shouted, stabbing forward and breaking free of his grip. "I don't need saving. I need to end this."
"You'll end up dead at this rate," Gabe growled, landing beside them just in time to block a puppet that lunged from above.
Another group surged in from the right. Their formation was tight. Blades aimed straight for Iris.
Gabe stepped in front of her without thinking.
SLASH.
A hook tore across his side.
"Gabe!" Iris gasped.
He gritted his teeth. "I'm fine. Just a scratch."
It wasn't. Blood trickled from the wound, and his stance faltered for a second.
"Stay behind me!" he barked.
"No. Not this time."
Iris snarled and lunged forward. She gripped her spear tightly and charged, carving through the nearest puppets with reckless force. Every strike was heavy, wild, fueled by anger instead of precision.
She didn't see the next hit coming.
CLANG.
One of the puppets spun into her path, holding a large brass gong like a shield. Her spear slammed into it with a jarring impact.
The sound rang through the street.
Her weapon cracked at the base.
Then it snapped in two.
She froze, staring at the broken handle in her hand, the echo of the gong still humming in the mist.
For a moment, the battlefield paused with her.
Iris let the broken spear fall to the ground.
She reached for her waist and drew both swords. They hissed as they sliced through the fog, the air around her beginning to shimmer with tension.
"No more distractions," she whispered. "You're mine."
With a roar, she launched forward, dual blades flashing in wide, brutal arcs. One puppet fell. Then another. A third lost its head before it could lift its weapon. She tore through the crowd like a storm, relentless and blood-streaked, pushing straight toward the center.
Marionox stood at the heart of it all.
His arms waved in slow, sweeping motions, like a conductor guiding a performance. Each flick of his hand sent another wave of puppets into motion. They moved to his rhythm, attacking in perfect sync, as if the battle itself was his stage.
Iris locked onto him.
This wasn't just about fighting anymore.
She shouted with everything in her:
"DUEL!"
A surge of power pulsed from her aura, locking onto Marionox. The moment the Duel triggered, the puppets around her froze. Their strings tightened, motionless, as if awaiting permission to move.
The rules had shifted.
The challenge had been made.
Marionox lowered his arms slowly and gave a theatrical bow.
"Then let us begin the final act."
The fog wrapped around them like a curtain falling over a stage. Thick. Heavy. Still. There was no crowd. No music. Only silence and pressure.
Iris stepped forward.
Then she planted her feet.
One foot apart.
That was the line she drew. She did not move again.
Marionox loomed before her. Six arms spread wide, each one holding a different weapon: hook, blade, dagger, sickle, hammer, and chain. His wooden frame twitched unnaturally, joints clicking as invisible strings pulled tight. He hovered like a spider ready to strike.
The Duel took full effect.
A red flare burst beneath Iris's foot, anchoring both of them in place. Their auras locked together, stretched in perfect tension. Marionox's strings quivered, but he could not retreat. Moving too far would tear the link and cause damage to whoever broke the balance.
A death match. One foot apart. No escape. No retreat.
Marionox struck first.
His six arms danced with mechanical precision, blades sweeping in sharp, unnatural patterns no human could mimic.
Steel clashed.
Iris met him head-on. Her dual swords flashed in crossing arcs, catching each incoming strike with perfect timing. The impact rang through the ruins like a bell.
CLANG.
Metal screamed against metal. Sparks lit the fog as their weapons collided again and again.
Each of Iris's movements was tight. Close. Calculated.
Marionox dislocated one of his arms mid-attack, spinning a hook in a wide arc from behind. Iris pivoted at the hips, her shoulder slipping just past the edge of the swing. She twisted and drove one blade into the exposed socket.
CRACK.
The arm snapped free and hit the ground, still twitching.
But Marionox didn't slow.
He leaned in close, his mask nearly touching hers.
"Let's dance together," he whispered.
A silver thread snapped out from his fingertip, not at her, but across the battlefield.
It struck Gabe.
His body jolted. Fog surged through his veins like lightning, his muscles locking. His wings twitched. His talons curled open against his will.
Gabe's voice came out strained, caught in his throat.
"No—"
His head turned. His eyes were wide. He was looking at Iris.
And he was moving toward her.
Sly's voice rang out from a distance.
"Gabe!"