The puppet nodded: "Yeah, yeah, we've even met before, hee hee hee! You don't remember me, but I've always wanted to see you again, always wanted to thank you in person—"
"Back then, I was just an ordinary middle school student. I grew up in the suburbs of Arc City and had never left."
"But one day, suddenly, monsters broke into the school and crushed the peaceful life I was used to."
"The campus turned into ruins. My friends, classmates, teachers—all buried under the rubble."
"I personally heard their cries for help grow weaker and weaker until they fell silent, while I could only cry helplessly on the side."
"Maybe my life was going to end there too. Maybe no one would come to save us. That's what I thought as I slowly closed my eyes."
"And right then—you appeared."
"You smiled, patted my head, and told me it was okay, that I did well, and that rescue would come soon."
"You didn't look much older than me, but your smile was so firm, so brave, so beautiful, so dazzling. Like a ray of light shining on me."
"I wiped away my tears and found the courage to stand up again."
"The school had become ruins, but at least I was still alive."
"To me back then, you were the embodiment of hope. I believed that as long as I worked hard, everything would get better."
"But… I was wrong."
"The one who survived became the target of everyone's blame."
"The kids in the neighborhood all went to the same school, and I was the only survivor."
"Most of the families around us had permanently lost their loved ones in that disaster. They supported and encouraged each other, yet they grew more and more distant from my parents."
"Why was I the only one who survived? That sentiment slowly spread until it turned into hatred."
"No one was willing to give us shelter, no one was willing to give my parents work, and even post-disaster relief applications for my family were delayed for all sorts of reasons."
"The disaster didn't break us—our fellow humans did!"
"My mother cried every day. My originally hardworking father began drinking heavily and became irritable."
"One day, I overheard him muttering drunkenly—'If only she had died in that disaster too.'"
"At that moment, something inside me shattered."
"Then, a voice whispered softly in my ear—welcome to the Theater of Domination."
Faced with the puppet's self-narration, Kiana could only remain silent.
The puppet continued: "I often think—if you hadn't saved me, I wouldn't have had to suffer so much, and my parents would have lived better lives."
"A long time after that, I heard about you again. You stopped that bomb and saved the entire city, but because of that, my ordeal continued once more."
"Your self-righteous act of heroism only brought me more pain!"
"The ugliness of the human heart is far more terrifying than any disaster. In a world like this, true salvation never existed from the beginning!"
"If living is more painful than dying, then why did you save me?"
"If the future is darker than the present, then why did you tell me to look toward the light?"
"If you call yourself a hero, then why… did you also save those bastards who tormented my parents and ruined their lives?"
"Finally, here, I've found the answer."
"Look—every single person in this theater is like this. Everyone in this world is like this—"
"Blind, impulsive, selfish, pitiful. They don't understand what they truly want, don't know what they should do. They just let themselves be manipulated by others, becoming pathetic actors, foolish puppets."
"I have to thank you. You threw me onto this hopeless stage just to tell me this…"
"I'm no different from them. I'm also just one of those lowly… ugly… members of humanity!"
"…No." Kiana's gaze grew even more resolute: "I won't be swayed by you. You're the Herrscher of Domination, not human. You amplify the negative emotions in people's hearts and push them toward extremes."
"But you're just a crude imitation of human thought—a wooden puppet. The human heart is far from something so simple, and your host, that girl, is absolutely not as fragile as you make her out to be."
The puppet said: "Heh heh, say whatever you want. Looks like you still don't understand your situation."
"Come on, come on. I've got plenty more stories to tell you."
After the puppet disappeared again,
Kiana fell into self-doubt because of the puppet's words.
She even began to wonder—had her efforts really led to worse outcomes?
She shook her head.
Reminding herself not to be swayed.
After taking a deep breath and adjusting her mindset, she chased after it once more.
The moment she caught up, the puppet spoke again: "Hee hee, you caught up again! As a reward, I'll give you one chance to ask a question—just one, okay!"
Kiana asked directly: "That host, that girl… is she still alive?"
The puppet immediately looked disappointed: "Sigh, what? That kind of question? So boring. Fine, fine, I'll answer you. We're way more honest than humans, after all."
"That 'me' is barely alive. But she's been ostracized by everyone around her, ignored by her parents. Her heart is slowly breaking, living worse than death."
"And it's all your fault. You saved those bastards who tormented me—people who don't deserve to live at all! You should've just let that bomb wipe them all out!"
Kiana said firmly: "I won't do that. Even if I had to choose again, I would still stop that disaster."
The puppet accused harshly: "Then you're their accomplice! Their partner in crime! Their executioner!"
Kiana said: "They spread the pain of losing loved ones onto the survivors—that's the evil in the human heart. But you also said they supported each other, encouraged one another, worked to move past the shadows, and tried to live on. That's the good in the human heart."
"Good and evil coexist in everyone's heart. That will never be a reason for me to give up on saving them."
"Hahaha?" The puppet laughed loudly: "Then what is that? Justifying yourself? Yeah, makes sense—because you yourself are the greatest evil of all!"
"Hee hee hee, after talking so much about me, it's time to talk about you."
"What should I call you? Kiana? Test Subject K-423? Or… the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin?"
"…!"
Kiana snapped awake instantly: "Your real target is…"
The puppet said excitedly: "Correct, correct! Hee hee hee! You should've noticed by now—we can visit people who have the potential to become one of us."
"But her consciousness is suppressed too harshly by you. We couldn't wrap our strings around you, so we couldn't invite her to be our guest in the theater."
"That's why we decided! No matter the cost, we're going to drag you into our theater!"
"Each of us is weak on our own, but as long as we gather everyone's power, we can definitely create an opening in you!"
"We don't care about your little traps, your little tricks—even firing cannons inside our theater. None of it matters."
"Because the moment you entered the theater, we had already succeeded! Hee hee hee hee hee hee!"
"Come on, come on. Let's pick a nice spot. It's time—to give the curtain its finale."
"Mhm mhm, this place is good. Great visibility—perfect for the best performance!"
"Even though it's already the final act! Hee hee hee!"
"Oh dear, oh dear, the actor can't wait any longer!"
Kiana questioned her: "Your true goal is to stimulate Sirin's consciousness and reawaken the Herrscher of the Void."
The puppet nodded: "Yes, yes! Right now, everyone outside probably thinks everything has calmed down, right? Everyone's eager to return to normal life, aren't they?"
"Even though Anti-Entropy still has doubts, under public pressure, you were forced to announce that the crisis has been temporarily resolved."
"So here's the problem: if, at a time like this, we reappear—and bring the Herrscher of the Void back with us—"
"Guess how humanity will deal with Anti-Entropy then? Oh right, Welt and the others have always insisted—Kiana Kaslana can control her own power!"
Kiana also realized how serious the situation was.
If the Herrscher of Domination succeeded, the entire world would plunge into massive chaos.
"I won't let that happen!"
She aimed her weapon at the puppet.
The puppet kept laughing: "Haha! But that was our original plan. In this operation, we had an unexpected gain. Kiana… you might be even more qualified to become one of us than Sirin."
…??
Amid Kiana's confusion, countless puppets suddenly appeared around her.
And before she knew it, she herself was standing on the judge's bench.
"Come on, come on! The trial prepared just for you is about to begin!"
The puppets all shouted: "Trial! Trial! Trial!"
The puppet at the judge's bench banged the desk: "Silence! Silence! We now begin the trial to determine the new member's eligibility for entry! State your name!"
Puppets in the audience shouted: "I know, I know! Her name is Kiana—Kiana Kaslana."
The calm puppet said: "No, she's not Kiana at all."
The excited puppet said: "Hee hee hee hee! Poor little thing! Even that name was stolen!"
"But don't worry, don't worry—everyone here is like that. We're just like you—all failures!"
Kiana faced the judge directly: "Don't judge me by your standards."
The calm puppet said: "Oh, looking down on us? Do you even have the right? We're puppets—what about you? A cloned test subject stuffed with a core?"
Other puppets chimed in: "Oh my god, you're not human! You're not at all!"
The puppet at the judge's bench said: "Silence! Silence! New member—confess your crimes!"
Kiana didn't even get a chance to speak.
A puppet said: "I know, I know! You made a man named Siegfried lose everything! He lost his daughter to save you, raised you without holding grudges, and you cut off his arm—yet you shamelessly called him Dad!"
"You couldn't control yourself and refused to be locked away, causing all your friends to become homeless."
"You say you fight for all the good in the world, yet you personally killed your own teacher!"
"You hurt your best friend and made her go to such a dangerous place for you!"
"You perform these so-called heroic acts, but the people around you keep decreasing, and the world keeps getting worse!"
"You're a villain, you're a sinner—your good deeds can't make up for your evil."
"Hee hee hahaha! We know—we know the voices in your heart, your true thoughts, the bottomless despair and suffering!"
"You know the taste of pain better than any of us. You're more suited to be a puppet's host than anyone in this world!"
"Face yourself! Face reality! Hahahahaha!"
Hearing the Herrscher of Domination's words, every single sentence felt like a knife stabbing straight into everyone's hearts, slicing away at their flesh.
At this moment, they truly understood the pressure Kiana had faced while filming this episode.
The official chat group was extremely active.
"Whoever said the Herrscher of Domination was good before—I want to kill it right now."
"It's done talking, right? Now it's my turn to blade it?"
"Damn, these little shits are so cheap—always stabbing right at Kiana's weakest spots."
"Damn it! Even someone like me with no trauma would break if accused like this."
"What kind of mental state was the dog director in to write this plot? How can he even write something like this?"
"I can't even imagine how Kiana endured facing these accusations."
"Can't they just treat Kiana better? She's already suffered so much."
"As expected of the Herrscher of Domination—it really knows how to manipulate hearts. It sounds convincing, but when you think about it, it's completely wrong."
"It's raising my blood pressure so much. Damn Herrscher, it really deserves to die—where are my blood pressure pills!"
"I'm so pissed, so pissed! These bastards talk so infuriatingly!!"
"…"
Kalpas was also furious beyond belief and shouted loudly: "Who's playing the Herrscher of Domination? Where are they? I'm going to blade her."
Hearing this, the entire break room fell deathly silent.
Everyone knew his explosive temper.
Even if they knew who it was, no one would say!
Helplessly,
He could only continue watching the TV with his anger.
But contrary to everyone's expectations,
On the TV, Kiana drew her gun, aimed at the puppet on the judge's bench, and fired: "I've heard enough of your nonsense. This ridiculous trial is over!"
"You can't sway me. I won't submit, and I definitely won't despair."
The puppet sighed: "Sigh, we even specially replayed the Second Herrscher's memories for you, and you felt nothing? Not even a hint of shame?"
Kiana stared at the talking puppet: "So it was you behind it all. Sorry, but that trick doesn't work on me."
"I have many people who trust and support me. They've taught me what I should do. If you think you can shake me with this, you're just wasting your time."
The puppet said: "Trust you? Support you? You mean cover for you and indulge you, right!"
"They knew you were the Herrscher of the Void—the greatest danger to humanity—yet they still risked everything to let you live, even sacrificing their lives to protect and redeem you."
"But what right do they have to do that?"
"Whether it was Cecilia or Himeko—when they were trying to save Sirin, save you—did they ever think about everyone else in the world? Did they ever consider that countless people would live in fear because of it?"
"No. They ignored millions of innocent lives and chose you—a time bomb that could explode at any moment, an irredeemable sinner."
"Is that what you call 'the right thing to do'? Pfft—selfish hypocrisy is just self-indulgent self-satisfaction for hypocrites!"
Kiana shouted: "Enough!"
The puppet continued: "Getting angry? You won't let me criticize your companions?"
"Don't misunderstand, don't misunderstand—we know you've been through a lot on this journey. No matter what we say, it's hard to shake your will."
"But we also know that even someone like you has unfinished regrets and unhealable voids."
"We know everything about you—your heart, your torment."
"You clearly know ordinary people can't survive in the Imaginary Space, yet you keep lying to yourself over and over."
"You clearly know that besides Anti-Entropy, Schicksal and the World Serpent are also searching for the Desire Gem, but so far they've found nothing."
"You've already understood the truth deep down, but you refuse to admit it. You keep deceiving yourself, saying 'I will definitely bring you back.'"
"What…?!?" Kiana's expression changed drastically.
Not just her.
At this moment,
Every viewer watching the TV—including all the actors in the drama—had their pupils contract, a very bad premonition rising in their hearts.
But for this premonition, everyone desperately hoped it was false.
On the TV, the puppet kept talking: "Look, look—we haven't even said who yet, but you already know exactly who it is!"
"She is the most vulnerable part of your heart, the wound that will never heal!"
"If you could go back to that day, if you could trade for her life, you would give anything to atone for the mistakes you made—but you don't have that 'if'!"