Ryder Sosobur.
A man who was once a slave to an evil Alchemist. Because he possessed a natural talent that increased the success rate of gunpowder transmutation, his entire family was killed, and even he was reduced to a high-priced commodity bought by the Alchemist. Under that Alchemist's training, he mastered basic Alchemy skills and then began a life that was like hell.
If he hadn't been someone with a natural talent and thus valuable to that Alchemist, he probably would have been used as an experimental subject along with his other companions long ago, becoming a disposable Human Bomb. That Alchemist was a servant of the local City Lord; they wanted to research a Taboo technology that could turn humans into bombs, hoping to create a terrifying vanguard of cannon fodder to deal with the Empire's knight corps.
But the experiment did not succeed.
To be more precise, the research into turning humans into bombs succeeded, but the Human Bombs were too weak. They might be a convenient tool for massacring civilians, but to use Human Bombs against the Empire's regular knight corps, their power was still insufficient.
The City Lord had already given up on continuing to invest in this experimental project, but the Alchemist refused to give up. He decided to modify Ryder into a Human Bomb. Since Ryder's natural talent could increase the success rate of Bomb Transmutation, if Ryder himself were refined into a Human Bomb, there would be a significant chance of success even using more powerful gunpowder materials. At that time, facing the imminent announcement of the project's failure, the Alchemist completely disregarded Ryder's personal will and forced the modification on him.
However, this research ultimately failed as well.
Although Ryder was successfully modified into a Human Bomb and didn't have the instability issues of previous versions—even being able to survive after self-detonating—his power as a bomb was simply too weak, even weaker than those previous defective products.
The result of overly stable ability was mediocrity. The Alchemist was very disappointed and decided to sell Ryder as a commodity to make up for the losses in this experiment. Although Ryder was a failure as a Human Bomb, in the auctioneer's words, his ability became a talent with great potential. Finally, while being transported after being bought by a certain noble, he and other goods were snatched by a group of vicious criminal organizations. He then joined that organization and quickly became a squad leader using his abilities.
This could be called a turn of luck in his life.
Though he had joined a criminal gang, he had at least escaped his former predicament, gaining a certain level of status and wealth, no longer a slave with no standing. Yet Ryder didn't feel liberated at all; he was still trapped in that hell, believing that this world was broken. So when he saw the Archbishop and learned of the Goddess Cult's mission, he felt he had found his goal.
He believed this world needed God's salvation! But this wasn't something an ordinary god could achieve. Only Her Eminence, the 'Goddess of Dusk', could bestow the correct salvation upon this world. Yes, that was the Day of Salvation symbolized by the twilight of the end, the moment when everything would meet its conclusion! This world was a hell, and only by destroying this hell could true salvation be attained.
This was the past of one of the Bishops of Twilight.
The past of 'The Bomber' Ryder Sosobur.
Alice looked at the remains of Little Red on the ground and pulled all the small puppets back to her side.
Although these puppets were made by her and weren't the companions her Master had made for her, they were still children of great significance to her. Losing even one was a very painful thing. However, being in the middle of a battle, she didn't let those emotions show.
Ryder looked at the
Puppeteer before him, his mind far from calm. He knew that his ability to destroy one of the opponent's puppets was entirely because his ability happened to counter hers. His power was the ability to transmute objects into bombs; the simpler the structure of an object, the easier it was to transmute, and puppets just happened to not be considered complex objects.
Coincidentally, he was also half a Puppeteer. The method he had used to conquer cities in the past was using bomb puppets to blow up the cities' barriers and gates.
However, he was only a dabbler in Puppeteer skills. Compared to a true Puppeteer, he couldn't control puppets to perform precise movements during battle and wasn't skilled at using puppets as combat weapons.
"Who are you people?"
Ryder also noticed the man outside who possessed 'Hero' level swordsmanship. These two—one a Puppeteer capable of matching him, and another who, despite lacking raw strength, possessed exquisite swordsmanship that didn't match his power. Such figures couldn't possibly be unknown in this Kingdom. Yet, he had truly never heard of such a duo. What puzzled him even more was that the fact this place was a Goddess Cult stronghold was a secret. One must know that his public identity was still a lower-level squad leader of 'Eight Fingers'; this place was originally a stronghold of that organization. Only those within the Goddess Cult should know that it had actually been taken over by them.
"..."
Alice gazed coldly at her opponent. Not only had her first attempt at using puppets in battle yielded no results, but she had also lost Little Red. This left her in no mood for conversation, and she decided to end this battle as quickly as possible.
"It seems if I want to know your origins, I'll just have to torture you properly after I defeat you in a moment." Ryder did not sense the danger.
He looked at the puppets beside Alice, a cold sneer curling his lips. Just as he was about to snap his fingers to detonate the technique he had planted on them earlier—
In that instant.
An invisible, heavy blow slammed directly into his face. His entire face caved in, blood splattered, and he was sent flying back with a thunderous boom. In his original spot, a tall Black Knight held a punching stance, slowly retracting its fist before shifting into a sprinting posture. Instantly, the sound of a sonic boom erupted in the air. Moving so fast it seemed to arrive before it even started, the Black Knight sprinted behind Ryder and sent him flying back with a roundhouse kick.
Shock appeared on Ryder's swollen face.
What was that thing?
A puppet?
In front of him, Alice was erupting with lightning. That terrifying mana reaction was something Ryder couldn't believe; they were clearly evenly matched just a moment ago, so why did this woman's strength suddenly skyrocket so much?! Alice punched a hole straight through Ryder's stomach. That punch was like a thunderous spear; rather than a punch, it was more like a shockwave.
Ryder fell to the ground.
He stared at Alice, unable to close his eyes even in death.
Then, his lips suddenly curved into a smile, and his body emitted a scorching light.
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