Chapter 364: Joker

The marionette was much shorter than the others, and its limbs less stiff, clearly a living creature pretending to be a marionette.

Noticing Azure Dragon’s approach, it dodged to the side quickly.

Having predicted the move, however, Azure Dragon adjusted the angle of his punch, hitting it in the chest in half a second.

Bam!

Rendered into pieces, the marionette scattered in the air.

Clack, clack, clack.

All at once, the marionettes on the clearing disassembled into different parts and fell on the ground.

Is it done?

Azure Dragon was just about to sigh in relief when an alarm blared in his head.

Without him noticing, countless thin threads had been tied to his body, the other ends connected to the disassembled parts of the marionettes.

A trap!

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

The thousands of wooden parts flew toward Azure Dragon, aiming at him with their sharp stakes. Azure Dragon had long hardened his muscles with his energy, making sure that the marionette parts weren’t going to hurt him.

However, more and more parts were drawn to him, and in the blink of an eye, he had turned into a giant ball of haphazard wood pieces.

The other half of the marionette parts reassembled anew and continued to dance and kill, keeping the other awakeners occupied.

“Elder Azure Dragon!”

Noticing Azure Dragon’s condition, Four Rainbow summoned another rain of arrows at the marionettes.

Seizing the time when the marionettes were on the ground, Four Rainbow conjured a greatsword of light and rushed toward the giant wooden ball.

“Hah!”

He raised the greatsword, its blade radiating energy.

The next second, he swung the sword to shoot out a light-element aura, destroying the wooden ball and freeing Azure Dragon.

Splat.

At some point, though, Joker had come up from behind and pierced through his heart, his hand protruding from his chest, all bloodied.

Four Rainbow shuddered violently. The greatsword he wielded scattered into light particles before vanishing.

“Joker...you...” Four Rainbow’s pupils dilated as he turned around, blood streaking down a corner of his mouth. He was shocked, enraged, and frustrated, but there was nothing he could do but to face death.

“I can’t let you stop the Marionette Burial, or I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

‘Joker’ pulled out his hand from Four Rainbow’s chest, reverting back into his true form—a frail, white-haired old man with a dark gaze.

Meanwhile, the marionettes hit by the arrows stood up again, cackling as they rushed toward the other awakeners with renewed vigor.

“You’re...not Joker...” Rainbow, lying in a pool of his own blood, exhausted his energy to say.

“Yu, shadowstalker. My ability is Pride Marionettes.”

After croaking out the words, he slowly turned to the ball of wooden parts.

Azure Dragon had been his target from the very beginning. He knew that by killing the man, he would be securing victory.

He raised both hands at the giant ball before him.

He had long learned about Azure Dragon and the man’s Talent. If he failed to kill Azure Dragon on the first try, he would never be able to kill him. And if he fought the man openly, Yu didn’t stand much of a chance.

However, Yu was confident now.

While Azure Dragon was strong, the twisted grievances and wills of so many corpses were a formidable force. Not even Azure Dragon would be able to fight the assimilating power.

“Marionette Burial...”

Thud.

The moment before Yu activated his power, a dagger pierced through his back.

He started, his old muddled eyes flashed with confusion and shock.

Who could it be?

He slowly looked to the side to find a marionette. Its face soon morphed into Joker’s.

It turned out that Joker had taken advantage of the chaos and concealed himself as a marionette at the start of the battle, giving himself the energy of a corpse and succeeding in blending in.

He planned to locate Yu secretly, but to his surprise, Yu had turned into himself to fool Azure Dragon and then ambush Four Rainbow.

Joker didn’t recklessly go up to stop the pride monster. He knew how lacking he was, and he knew that he was an assassin with only one chance to attack. He must only move when the time was right.

Even though his companions were getting killed, even though Four Rainbow ended up stabbed in the back by Yu.

Disguised as a marionette, Joker remained unmoving.

It wasn’t time yet.

He had to wait until Yu was most complacent for him to approach the monster undetected—when Yu activated Marionette Burial.

“So you’re Joker...” Yu looked at him with a cold sneer on his face. “What a...clown.”

Joker sensed a killing intent that was going to drag him down to hell with it. He was going to move away, only to find himself already trapped by countless threads.

“At least...” Yu bled from a corner of his mouth. “I’ll kill you.”

Swish, swish, swish.

Instantly, some of the marionette parts forming the large ball detached and flew toward Joker and Yu, wrapping around them to form a smaller ball.

Trapped inside, Joker knew that he was going to die.

At that moment, he felt no fear, but instead let out a long sigh of relief.

I’ve fought to survive as long as I could, Sis. Finally, I can be reunited with you.

—Marionette Burial!

Yu used his most powerful skill.

Instantly, blue blinding light shot out from the center of the ball, the light devouring the entire clearing and even lighting up the sky.

A few seconds later, the ball that had trapped Yu and Joker turned into a giant marionette, lifeless.

It sat on the ground, hunched and head lowered. Its mouth was split into an amusing smile, while its eyes were sad. It was a clown.

Azure Dragon, having been trapped by marionette parts, sensed the restraint around him weakening. With a shout, he broke free, scattering wooden pieces everywhere.

The first thing he saw was Four Rainbow, already dead in a pool of blood.

“Four Rainbow!” Azure Dragon shouted in grief, his eyes blazing with rage.

He looked up at the giant marionette near him. It was a clown with its head lowered.

Azure Dragon quickly realized that it was no enemy, but a dead thing without vitality.

The other marionettes on the clearing had disassembled into parts until finally, with the energy drained, they turned back into pieces of flesh and bones.

The fight had come to an end, but no one cheered in triumph. All that could be heard were cries of pain and heartbreak. Then there was silence.

More companions had left them forever.

Azure Dragon fell silent. He had pieced together what happened.

The Joker before was a fake. The real Joker had never encountered a pride monster before. How could he possibly identify a pride monster by smell?

Things had been too hectic for Azure Dragon to think properly, and thus he fell into Yu’s trap.

The real Joker must have disguised himself as a marionette to approach Yu. Then he killed the monster at the price of his life.

Azure Dragon went up to Four Rainbow and picked up his body. Then he noticed a black wallet on the ground.

He picked it up. It wasn’t Four Rainbow’s.

He opened it to find a few bills and IDs. There was also a photo.

To check who the wallet belonged to, he took the photo out.

In the backdrop were the flowerbeds outside a hospital. The sky was blue and the clouds fluffy white. It was a sunny day.

A young man who looked like a college student was pushing a wheelchair, and sitting on the wheelchair was a sickly girl in a patient gown, her bald head covered by a sun hat. Her face was pale, and there was an oxygen tube in her nose, yet she was smiling, her eyes bright.

Azure Dragon flipped the photo around. In neat handwriting, someone had written,

I’ve been dragging you down this whole life, Brother, and I can only pay it back in my next life. When you are released, don’t blame yourself and don’t hate the world. Live. Live well.

Love always, your little sister.