The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 229

“We’re here.”

“...”

Lea looked at the building in front of her. It looked makeshift, possibly a renovated warehouse. However, despite how it looked, it lacked the large sign and wide-open door characteristic of warehouses, making it look more like a building under repair.

I can’t see anything inside.

It was pitch-black beyond the door, looking like a void ready to swallow her whole. Feeling her nervousness growing, Lea stared into the void. It made Puppeteer, who noticed her anxiety, slightly smile.

“Are you still scared of the dark, just like when you were a kid?”

“...”

“There’s no need to worry. I made it dark like that so I can harvest things.”

“...Harvest?”

Puppeteer's lips curled upward. “If I leave the door open like that, something usually wanders in. Then I use that as material.”

Puppeteer’s voice was completely casual, causing Lea to immediately frown. It was absurd that Puppeteer experimented on slum residents who snuck in to steal. Of course, it could be said that they were reaping what they sowed, but the way Puppeteer talked about it sent chills down Lea’s spine; Puppeteer sounded like she was talking about pulling weeds from the roadside.

“Come on, I’ll explain everything inside. There are too many eyes out here.”

Watching Puppeteer enter the workshop, Lea briefly hesitated before following her in.

Click!

The lights in the workshop flicked on the moment they entered. Looking around, she could see workbenches, various material crates, tables, sofas, and various other pieces of furniture scattered throughout.

As Lea continued scanning the wide-open space, she soon noticed that the ceiling was still shrouded in darkness.

“...Ugh.”

When her eyes adjusted, she made out dozens of figures hanging limply, as if they had all perished by hanging. Their outlines were faint, making it impossible to tell whether they were puppets or corpses, but either way, it didn’t make much difference. With Puppeteer, her puppets were always made with corpses.

“Have a seat over there.”

Gesturing toward the sofa, Puppeteer then walked over to the fridge by the wall and checked inside.

“Anything you’d like to drink?”

“...” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I’ll just grab whatever, then.”

Pulling out an assortment of drinks, she headed back to Lea and placed them on the table before plopping down on the opposite sofa. Lowering her gaze to the drinks on the table, Lea realized they were the same ones she used to have at home when she was younger.

The memories that were brought back immediately made her frown, and she soon let out a deep sigh.

“Phew...”

“Sighing again? You’ll make it a habit—”

“I just don’t get it.”

Cutting her off, Lea glared at the Puppeteer incredulously.

“Do you really not remember how you made me come here? You threatened to kill my grandmother and my friends if I didn’t come.”

“...”

“Do you think I’m going to see you in a better light because of your stupid act?”

Thud-

Kicking the bottom of the table, Lea intensified her glare at Puppeteer, who met her gaze calmly.

“Stop pretending to be human... stop acting like you’re alive. Just get to the point because this situation is making me sick.”

Perhaps a remnant of her former self remained; perhaps there was a reason behind the events of that day—she was mistaken if she believed such ideas would influence Lea. To Lea, Puppeteer’s mere presence was revolting.

“Hmm.”

Glancing at the toppled drinks, Puppeteer casually picked up a bottle of green tea—the drink Lea’s father, Dane, had always enjoyed.

Puppeteer then deliberately opened it and took a sip, causing Lea’s frown to deepen even more. It was a reaction that made Puppeteer smile.

“For someone who says they don’t care, you sure seem affected by every little thing.”

“Whatever...”

“Fine. I guess talking to a teenager doesn’t always go well. Let’s get to the point then.”

She set the bottle down and snapped her fingers.

Clink-

The sound of chains echoed from the ceiling, and a moment later, a gaunt old man in a suit landed gracefully next to her and stood upright.

“This is Eleven. One of my Single Numbers.”

At the Puppeteer’s introduction, Lea turned her gaze toward the elderly man. He looked like an ordinary old man, but he was a monster nearing S-rank. He could get rid of someone like her with ease, making Lea tense involuntarily.

“There’s no need to be so nervous. His job is to take care of you.”

“...Take care of me?”

Hearing the surprise in Lea’s voice, Puppeteer nodded to confirm.

“You should stay here for a while and learn the basics of Biological Enchantments. Once you’re comfortable with it, I’ll teach you how to process puppets as well.”

She gave Eleven a signal, and he waved his hand through the air, pulling several thick books out of what seemingly was empty space and placing them all on the desk. Though Lea didn’t know where the books came from, that wasn’t what was bothering her. It was Puppeteer’s words.

“What... exactly are you trying to achieve out of this?”

“It’s as I said. I want to teach you.”

“And why would you want to teach me this... garbage?”

“Because you’ve got talent,” replied Puppeteer calmly, fixing her eyes on Lea. “You have great talent, and I have the right skill set to teach you. Do I need any more reason than that?”

“...”

“Besides, Babel isn’t as great of a place as you think it is. The ethics and morality they teach are things that only hold back your true potential.”

According to Puppeteer, Babel’s education system was simply disguised as one that gave students freedom. In truth, they actually pruned their student’s branches and leaves to make them grow the way they wanted.

That was why, upon realizing Lea’s potential, Puppeteer had decided to take Lea away.

“You can be so much better than you are now. I can guarantee you, with every useless shackle you break, you’ll grow even more.”

If Lea was currently limited to ten colors on her enchantment palette, abandoning her common sense would increase that number tenfold. Of course, having more colors wasn’t always better, but the ability to use them well regardless was also a sign of talent, and Lea had that talent.

“If we start today, I could have you creating Single Numbers within five years...”

“And what happens then?”

Her eyes locked on Puppeteer, Lea’s frigid voice forced Puppeteer to trail off.

“What happens after I give up my humanity and master your revolting techniques? What happens to me then?”

Was she expecting Lea to become her successor, some kind of partner who understood her madness? To Lea, it was an absolutely ludicrous idea. She could never become the person Puppeteer wanted, and Puppeteer wasn’t someone capable of forming such a bond anyway.

“...That’s a conversation for another time.”

“Oh really? Then let me ask you something else.”

Taking a glance at the books on Biological Enchantments, Lea turned back to Puppeteer.

“Why are you going out of your way to convince me?”

“...”

“You could just turn me into a puppet and force me to learn your skills. So why are you going through the effort to pull off all this lame act and this nonsense?”

Puppeteer’s mouth remained shut, causing Lea to let out a small, mocking laugh.

“I guess that’s also a conversation for another time. Fine, I’ll just keep talking to myself then. My guess is it’s because your puppets can’t grow.”

Ever since Lea had vowed to kill Puppeteer, she had researched everything she could find on puppets. And she had learned that once someone became a puppet, they couldn’t progress any further.

“Sure, you can swap out their parts and enable others to mimic their skills by turning them into cubes. But while they might become stronger in terms of pure strength, there’s no fundamental growth behind it at all.”

It was as if a computer’s hardware was upgraded but the software remained the same—once someone lost their physical body and became a puppet, their development stopped there.

“When I thought about it that way and looked into it some more, I found plenty of evidence. Puppets who couldn’t beat heroes with the same skill level, Single Numbers with severe limitations because they had little to no self-awareness, and also...”—Lea stared straight at Puppeteer—“...your own stagnant skill that’s stuck in place.”

“...”

“Well, I’ve said a lot of things, but there’s only one conclusion.”

Facing the silent Puppeteer, Lea, with her voice dripping with genuine disgust and contempt, declared, “It’s that you’re a real piece of trash.”

She had killed her husband and abandoned her daughter, and now, after realizing her own skills had hit a dead end, she was trying to raise and sacrifice her daughter to move forward again.

For a while, Puppeteer just quietly watched her. Then, she took a sip of green tea and sighed.

“You’re not going to believe me even if I said everything you've said is wrong, right?”

“If you were me, would you?”

“...Fair enough.”

Sighing in resignation, Puppeteer set down the empty bottle.

“I guess I’ll just proceed as I planned.”

Snap!

With a snap of Puppeteer’s fingers, Lea’s body was yanked into the air as if an invisible thread had suddenly strung her.

“Ugh...?!”

Looking closer, Lea finally noticed the transparent string, which she hadn’t noticed wrapping around her, suspending her in midair.

Puppeteer glanced at Eleven. “Get ready for surgery.”

Nodding, Eleven disappeared somewhere, and Puppeteer looked up at Lea.

“Don’t worry too much. I’m just going to enchant your brain a little so that you can focus better on your studies.”

Though Puppeteer tried to sound reassuring, Lea looked down at her in disgust.

“You’re truly disgusting.”

“Hmm, maybe I should also add some manners to the enchantment. By the way...”

Trailing off and crossing her arms, Puppeteer looked around the workshop.

“When are your allies supposed to arrive?”

“What?”

“You didn’t come here without any backup, right? Besides, you don’t seem to be completely resigned to your fate.”

Puppeteer’s eyes nonchalantly met hers. “I don’t want to waste more time. Just go ahead and call them.”

“You sound confident.”

“That should be my line. Did you bring a Perfect One or something?”

Puppeteer was truly puzzled. She couldn’t understand how Lea could face someone as powerful as herself, one of the infamous Ten Evils, with such confidence.

“No.”

Lea’s lips twisted into a smirk.

“I actually teamed up with someone similar to you.”

Swish-

As if summoned, hundreds, if not thousands, of butterflies suddenly materialized in midair. They quickly swallowed Lea’s body in the blink of an eye and vanished, leaving Puppeteer completely shocked.

“What...?”

She could easily recognize the dream butterflies—which could only be controlled by the Dream Demon. Completely taken aback by the unexpected interference, Puppeteer froze. That was when the space in front of her split open.

Shunk!

A large black sword she had never seen before shot toward her, radiating immense power. Quickly reacting, Puppeteer summoned another Single Number that was suspended in midair to block the attack.

Whirr-

However, a purple mist came out of nowhere and covered the workshop’s ceiling, stopping her command.

With nothing intercepting, the black sword swiftly plunged through.

Crack!

Piercing Puppeteer’s body, which was tougher than most A-rank heroes, in an instant, the force of the sword sent her flying hundreds of meters, shattering a wall before crashing into the ground.

Boom!

Her body, barely maintaining its form, now lay sprawled in the open area. Completely bewildered, Puppeteer looked at the black sword embedded in her chest.

Did Lea team up with the Dream Demon?

If she really had joined forces with her, it made sense How Lea could stand before her in the slums without flinching. In a place like this, the Dream Demon was far stronger than she was. However, Puppeteer couldn’t understand why the Dream Demon had made such a choice.

I’m sure I didn’t see wrong, though. Those were clearly her butterflies...

Lost, Puppeteer tried to make sense of the situation. During that time, a purple mist gathered above her, and the Dream Demon materialized.

“What’s going on here?” the Dream Demon asked, looking genuinely confused.

At her reaction, the gears in Puppeteer’s mind began to turn and she thought of another scenario in her mind. But those gears never finished.

Woong-

A constellation appeared on the surface of the pitch-black sword, Abgrund, in her chest.

“...”

Puppeteer's eyes lost focus. Noticing, the Dream Demon gave her a puzzled look. She had come because she sensed her own power coming from Puppeteer's workshop, but what in the world was this mess?

“Could you please explain what happened...?”

“Are you really asking that?”

Puppeteer's voice was cold and laced with killing intent.

The Dream Demon narrowed her eyes.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Are you really going to deny it now? You brazenly took my daughter right in front of me.”

Surprised by Puppeteer's sudden accusation, the Dream Demon's eyes widened before letting out a scoff.

“Do you really believe I did that?”

She didn’t know the full details, but it was clear with just a quick glance that someone was trying to stir trouble between them. However, the Dream Demon's reaction made Puppeteer scowled.

Yes, she wouldn’t... if she had any common sense.

The Dream Demon wouldn’t do such a thing to her. That much was obvious. Calming down, Puppeteer was about to reach that conclusion, however—

Woong-

The constellation on Abgrund's surface shone once again. Simultaneously, the Sphere which was in the hands of Lea, who was standing on top of a building, responded and began to spin.

“Celestial synchronization.”

Whoosh-

The five axes swiftly began rotating. Golden constellations illuminated the sky above, forming a barrier around the puppets housing the Puppeteer's consciousness and separating them from her main body.

With the connection cut off, Puppeteer’s lingering doubt and rage toward the Dream Demon intensified to an overwhelming degree.

There's no way she isn't the culprit.

Puppeteer's consciousness spiraled into madness.

Snap!

With a flick of her left hand, which only had a thumb and middle finger left, the roof of the distant workshop crumbled, and four figures landed in the clearing.

Seeing the Puppeteer’s four Single Numbers that were stationed in the Pleasure District, the Dream Demon's eyes widened in disbelief.

What in the world...?

She couldn’t understand how Puppeteer could fail to grasp such a simple truth and instead direct such hostility at her. Flabbergasted, the Dream Demon stared blankly at Puppeteer, who was now behaving as if she were an actual puppet that was controlled by someone else.

“Kill her.”

The four Single Numbers lunged toward the Dream Demon.