Too silent.
Hielo stepped cautiously through the remains of what once was the Monkey Tribe's home.
Bodies littered the streets, civilians, elders, children, monkeys, their lifeless forms twisted and broken. Blood soaked the soil. Houses still smoldered from recent flames. The scent of death clung to the air.
"Tondo..." she whispered, kneeling beside the fallen warrior's half-destroyed body. His eyes stared blankly toward the sky. "I'm sorry."
A weak cough broke the silence.
"H... help... me..."
Hielo turned sharply. Misa lay slumped against a shattered wall, her body mangled, breath shallow. She reached for Hielo with trembling fingers.
"They're... all gone," Misa wheezed. "Everyone... dead..."
Hielo knelt beside her, gripping her hand gently. "Who did this?"
Tears pooled in Misa's eyes. "The... puppet..."
Hielo's gaze sharpened. Puppet?
The air shifted.
A blur shot from behind, a thin figure swinging a bladed heel in a lethal arc. Hielo turned at the last second, blocking the kick with her forearm. The impact sent a shockwave through the ruined street.
The attacker flipped back gracefully, landing with eerie precision. She was slight, almost childlike, with long hair and porcelain skin, but her limbs were wrong. Her arms were segmented, metallic, jointed like a marionette's. And her eyes glowed a dull crimson.
"Wow..." the figure said with a soft, almost innocent tone. "You're strong."
Hielo hissed "Are you repsonsible for killing them."
Nini said emotionless "Yes"
The puppet girl smiled sweetly, and lunged.
Copera Style
Nini's movements were unlike any opponent Hielo had faced. Her fighting style, Copera, was a deadly dance of precision and unpredictability. She spun on her bladed heel, slashing in wide arcs that sang through the air. Her right hand twisted, the fingers rotating into a whirring drill, while her left arm split into twin blades that lashed like a scythe.
NINI'S ABI: 4500%
She weaved between attacks with fluid, almost playful grace, her puppet body bending at unnatural angles.
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Sparks flew as her blades clashed against Hielo's sword. A spinning kick came from nowhere, followed by a drill-thrust that sliced through a tree trunk as if it were paper.
But Hielo was faster.
She sidestepped the kick, pivoted around the drill, and with a single smooth motion, sliced Nini's arm clean off.
"Ah—!" Nini hissed, staggering back, gears sparking where the limb once was. But instead of retreating, she smiled.
"Cute trick."
Her torso split open, and a swarm of mechanical limbs shot out, each tipped with long blades and piercing needles. They whirred and writhed, reaching for Hielo like a nest of angry serpents.
Hielo didn't flinch.
With swipe of her saber, Lemon Abi sprang out with extroadinary force.
VROOOM!
A Lemon Abi tore through the air. The Abi ripped straight through Nini's puppet head, shattering porcelain and synthetic bone in an explosive burst. The force hurled her backward, slamming her into the ruined wall behind her. Smoke hissed from the wound as fragments clattered to the ground.
For a moment...
the puppet lay still.Then she stirred.
Her head twitched side to side, gears whining as she rose slowly to her feet. "That... hurt..."
Her head formed back together.
She finally took note of HIelos Abi.
"I am surprised to know the king Mr. Green could have something like you in his ranks?" Hielo demanded, her voice cold and sharp.
HIELO'S ABI: 4000%
Nini chuckled softly, her head cocking to one side. "His desires... are the same as those of my masters."
"Your masters?" Hielo's grip on her sword tightened. "Who is your master?"
"Igris," Nini said simply.
The name hung heavy in the air.
Hielo's eyes narrowed. "Who is Igris?"
Nini's lips curved into a faint smile.
A chill ran through Hielo. Something bigger was moving beyond the horizon.
"In the name of the Saber Class," she declared, leveling her sword, "I will see you punished for the atrocities you've committed here."
Nini tilted her head. "Atrocities?" she repeated, voice lilting. "I was only putting them out of their misery."
Hielo's jaw tightened. "Misery?"
"They would have suffered," Nini said softly. "What's to come will be far worse. I gave them peaceful endings."
"Peaceful..." Hielo growled. "I'll show you peace."
Black Komodo
She raised her blade skyward.
"Black Komodo."
Abi roared around her, swirling into a cyclone of shadow and light. Her form changed — sleek, terrifying, beautiful. She became a walking Komodo star, armor humming with power, her blade glowing with brilliant Lemon energy.
ABI: 7500%
Nini's eyes widened. For the first time, fear flickered across her face.
Hielo moved.
One strike.
That was all it took.
Her saber cleaved through the air, and the forest itself parted, trees splintered and earth tore as the wave of energy roared forward. Nini barely leapt aside, the force of the blow hurling her into the dirt.
She scrambled to her feet, gears whirring furiously. "Tch..."
Hielo stepped forward, slow and deliberate. "I'm getting closer puppet."
Nini's crimson eyes darted to the treeline. Her body trembled, not in terror, but calculation. "I have to meet back with the others," she muttered under her breath. "This one's too strong... I won't be able to take her by myself."
She turned and bolted into the forest, sprinting with desperate speed.
Hielo didn't chase. She followed, calmly, casually, her glowing saber humming at her side.
"Run as far as you like," she said quietly, stepping into the shadows. "I'll find you."