I Will Create a Good Ending for the Yandere Villainess-Chapter 332: The End of a Puppeteer?

[Thalrak’s POV]

"You wanted to know who I was, correct?"

My body froze as I heard this.

Their identity? Was this wretched rodent finally going to reveal what they had been clutching so tightly inside their wretched palms?

Even though the internal workings of the several mechanical parts within my body were becoming faulty, my curiosity was piqued. Who was this damn intruder?

The mysterious individual with the blurry mask caused the sword in their hands to disappear, out of sight, and allowed a hint of peace to return within my mind.

Since this cursed intruder had successfully awakened their Regulars, I had begun to lose. It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t just! How was someone... A heretic like them given such holy luck?

And how did they know the exact way to release them from their cursed enchantment?

Could it be... Were they truly omniscient?

No... There was no possible way!

I then heard their still distorted voice echo out from behind their mysterious mask.

"I am the Pathetic Rabbit of Fated Truths. A foreigner beloved by Luck that belongs to a world separate from this. And because of that, I am exempt from this world’s programming. Exempt from its inevitable fate. For the concept of fate is something I don as a mantle as I walk down its starry carpet."

I widened my eyes. What the hell are they talking about? A foreigner from another world? Exempt from this world’s... Programming? What on Earth does this mean?

"I know nothing of myself, but I know all that happens in the confines of this world’s circuitry, for I am both omniscient and not. I am aware of every outcome, and yet I do not know all the reasons for it.

"And if you still are sceptical of the extent of my knowledge, then let’s have a trip down memory lane. Thalrek, one of three names you had occupied in your life and chose to stick with upon entering the Cult of Jesters at the ripe age of 18.

"Starting out as a crook at the cult’s early stages, you eventually rose up the ranks, gathering enough power to wipe out your entire Noble lineage, from which you were exiled. The reasons for your exile, while unknown to the public, were stated to be due to your cannibalistic tastes for young ladies’ hearts.

"A couple of years ago, you had engaged in a fierce battle with the Saint in the North, who, albeit deceased now, had caused you to lose a majority of your power and even the loss of Tiers.

"And that was almost 50 to 60 years ago. Fast forward today, you are 69 years old and without any hope of escaping... Do you understand now, Gregory Von Breakage?"

H-How... Did they know my name? How did they know all of this? I’m aware that the news of my battle with the Saint had gone public, but I’m sure that anything outside of that hadn’t been stated anywhere.

My throat began to close up as sweat began to pour out of my skin.

As I back away unconsciously, my sweaty palm almost slips off the edge of the damned hole behind me.

This situation is growing dire... I needed to escape. I need to escape badly!

But... I can’t...

My mana has already been depleted. But I still had enough to pull something out of my spatial storage, or even to summon something!

And as my thought raced, I heard them speak again.

"In summary of my words, I am someone of importance. Someone who is of a single kind. And... To top it all of... I am the Incarnation of a God that had fallen in the great Celestial War..."

My eyes shot wide open, trembling even at the revelation.

’God? What god? Are they truly an incarnation of a divine being? Of what faction? Of what concept? And how old is this god?’

"W-which god?"

"..."

The mysterious masked individual became silent before answering my question. And their words caused my entire world to crack.

"The God of Shattered Truths... I am that God’s Incarnation."

"I-Impossible!"

I can’t believe it.

I... I don’t want to believe it and yet... Something about the ro—person’s voice couldn’t help but sound believable... Confident.

Were they... Truly the Incarnation of one of the Lords...?

One of the Lords that created the Jester... Even being what the Jester was inspired by!

"You do not believe, and yet you do. You know inside your heart that is true and yet your very mind hold you back from the Truth."

Tears swelled in my eyes as I got onto my knees. Something snapped inside me—something that kept me from believing that Incarnation before me.

And because of that, I realised with my mechanical eye that there was a holiness to them. A malevolent but benevolent one.

It was... The exact same feeling that had washed over me as I had entered the Incarnation’s Mana Realm. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Had I... Had I entered into one of the Lord’s realms without their permission?

"F-... For what reason do you have, my Lord, to go against one of your servants? I was merely spreading the influence of your religion...!"

H-had I lost favour with the Lords I served? Had I truly been abandoned as they said? Am I... Am I truly destined to have my end be today?

"Please, your Lord! I still have many more to do and achieve in this world!" He slammed my forehead into the cold, stone ground, ignoring it as tears streamed out of my eyes.

I choked and added:

"P-please... I was just trying to spread the name of our Cult... It was all for a good cause, I swear!"

"The destruction of lives isn’t an acceptable reason, no matter under whose jurisdiction."

The Lord then held out their hand to me.

"... Relinquish your hold of those three items you have. The Regulars."

***

[3rd POV]

{The Lady of Luck giggled before cackling at your words. You are awarded 20 points for your Overly Dramatic Flair.}

{The Lady of Luck found amusement in your self-awareness. You are awarded 20 points for your Overly Dramatic Flair.}

{The Lady of Luck smirked as you went over the Puppeteer’s life. You are awarded 8 x 3 points for your Dramatic Flair.}

{The Lady of Luck frowned momentarily, but found your lie about being a God’s Incarnation amusing. You are awarded 20 points for your Overly Dramatic Flair.}

{The Lady of Luck...}

Lillian glanced around her, staring at the countless system panels blocking her field of vision.

She was glad that the Lady was enjoying herself, for she felt weird stating all these things out loud.

She turned off the notification and shook her head. She looked down and found Thalrek meticulously placing three items on the ground. Two of them were ones she had seen in action.

They were the greatsword and the scythe.

The last of the three was a boring-looking cutlass, something a pirate would use.

"Good... Have you removed your mark on these three weapons? No longer a part of your Mana Realm?"

"Y-yes... I have..."

Lillian nodded slowly.

"How about money? Any money on you?"

"M-money...?"

Thalrek stared up at her with an incredulous look before shaking his head frantically, "I-I’m sorry, but I do not! I have spent it all on my invasions..."

"Tsk..."

Lillian knew he didn’t have any money, but she thought that since this world was a reality, it would be different.

Thalrek flinched, hearing Lillian click her tongue. He then watched as she pointed at the rings on his finger before

"Hand them over. You can leave your tunic on."

"B-but—!"

"Hand them over."

Lillian watched as the Puppeteer reluctantly handed over his rings. After retrieving them from his cold and bloody fingers, she stored them in her own ring.

She then knelt down and stored the three weapons in her ring as well before swiftly getting back up.

"So, then. I assume you are extremely low on mana, yes?"

Thalrek slowly nodded his head, watching as Lillian stretched her hand into the air and caused it to disappear along with her entire forearm.

This shocked the scrawny man, even more so as he watched her pull out a glass bottle with a blue liquid inside.

He widened his eyes, stupefied before asking:

"Y-... You’re going to give that to me?"

"Hm? Says who?"

Lillian took a step back and tore off the cork of the bottle. She then tilted up her mask and poured half of the solution into her mouth, drinking it as Thalrek watched her with dried lips.

She then pulled down her mask and stared at the mana potion, which was filled with only half of the liquid. She glanced towards Thalrek, noticing that he was parched.

"Would you like to drink the rest?"

"H-huh? Y-yes, please, my Lord!"

He held his hands out, watching as Lillian pushed it towards him. But right as his hands were about to be under it, Lillian—

Crash-SHATTER!

—Dropped it, causing it to fall and shatter, spilling all of its mana-rejuvenating liquid.

His eyes shook. Why would Lillian do this?

He then immediately bent over, pushing his tongue out to lick up the liquid before being pulled onto his feet.

Lillian, gripping the collar of his tunic, forcefully pulled him up and held him over the hole, causing him to dangle over it.

Thalrek froze, letting out a shriek as he instinctively clutched onto Lillian’s arm.

"Thalrek, if I recall correctly, you had caused your current body to undergo several mechanical enhancements. And because of that, you had created yourself a rather troublesome flaw due to the age of your current vessel."

Lillian went silent. But then added:

"Your Flaw is named, Greater Fear... And if I researched correctly, it causes all forms of fears you would experience to be tripled... You don’t happen to have the fear of heights, do you?"

Lillian shook him, causing his grip on her arm to tighten. She grinned behind her mask as a sadistic light flashed through her eyes.

"If my memory doesn’t fail me, you experience and carry the fears of the bodies you steal. Isn’t that correct...? And if I calculate correctly, this hole is about 15 metres deep."

She watched as Thalrek’s eyes trembled, his body shuddering as he refused to look down. She chuckled in dark satisfaction as she slowly raised his hand and summoned a glass shard.

"Tell me... Did one of your vessels ever have the fear of insects?"

Without hearing his answer, Lillian chucked the glass shard in her hand back, causing it to shatter into a cloud of dust.

And what came out of it was a partially recovered Beetle, who was still missing half of his face and still had a couple of limbs missing.

However, this only added to its horrifying appearance as Thalrek’s face turned deathly pale.

"W-what is that thing..." He asked in a quiet and stuttering voice, which was ignored by both her and the Beetle.

The Beetle weakly got up from the ground, looking down over Lillian before settling his gaze on Thalrek, who turned even more pale as his teeth chattered.

And seeing this, the Beetle chattered its teeth as well.

"Sorry for waking you up from your recovery. But I need you here." Lillian muttered, getting an irritated and hateful glare from the Beetle, who let out a distorted groan.

However, he did eventually forgive Lillian as he watched the man become even more afraid of it.

And, feeling more inclined to terrify the man, it let out an ear-piercing roar that caused the entire man to tremble.

The Beetle eventually collapsed to the ground as blood shot out of its throat. However, whatever it had just done was enough.

Lillian, staring at the man, found him nearly unconscious. And seeing that she was almost finished, she dropped him into the pit.

She then quickly pulled out a rather concerning organ from her ring and dropped it in as well.

THUD!

Thalrek’s body crashed into the ground, shocking him out of his unconscious state as he slowly looked up—blood leaking out of the corners of his mouth.

But then he flinched as something fell onto his head, rolling off and onto the ground beside him.

He looked towards it, raising his eyes in confusion at what he saw.

It seemed to be...

A spider’s eye....

He quickly kicked it away, shocked that such a thing was in the same place as him. His face became grim and dark, watching as the eye stared at him eerily as though it was alive.

And while he kept his focus on it... He looked up, finding Lillian staring down at him with her hands in her pockets.

"As the judge for your crimes that you committed in your entire lifespan, I sentence you to a land of your greatest fears. For what you have right beside you is the eye of a Gate Bearer."

Thalrek slowly lowered his eyes back to the spider’s eye, finding it slowly glowing, intensifying into a burning and blinding light, which suddenly transformed into a swirling purple hole in space.

He quickly scrambled to his feet and dug his hand into the wall, trying to climb up and away. And after managing to climb halfway up, a gravitational pull grabbed him.

For a moment, he managed to resist the pull. But a split second later, he lost his grip on the wall.

However, with supreme persistence, he managed to latch back onto it, digging his fingers into the wall and pulling himself up.

"I can’t die... I absolutely can’t die!"

He continued to climb up, reaching past the halfway point.

"I’ll exceed your expectations and rewrite my own destiny! I am destined to become the man who can control the very world someday! The Puppeteer who will turn the entire world into a puppet! A MARIONETTE!"

"... Marionette?"

Thalrek, reaching the top, looked up and found Lillian holding onto one of the Beetle’s legs to resist the gravitational pull.

Lillian, with her cloak fluttering behind her due to the Gate’s pull, muttered in a stoic tone:

And as she said that, the purple gem at the centre of her chestplate glowed an ethereal light as a mental shockwave bursted out from it.

The shockwave reached 10 metres before completely disappearing. However, that was enough for the entirety of Thalrek’s body to be enveloped in it.

What she had just used was her chestplate’s enchantment, [Willbreaker Pulse]. An ability she could only use once per day to reduce a target’s mental fortitude.

’But that’s enough...’

For she decided to use another enchantment belonging to her mask—the enchantment named [Fractured Resolve].

In any normal situation, she was sure she would receive an injury that would kill her if she were to use this on Thalrek at the beginning.

However... With everything that had happened and with the [Willbreaker Pulse] in effect... she was sure that his mental state must be in shambles.

And because of that, upon activation, she sent a mental attack that caused Thalrek’s eyes to go blank and tremble. Eventually, the colour in his eyes returned.

But... There was something different about them. There was no longer any kind of strength or confidence behind them.

There was only crippling fear...

And seeing this, Lillian coldly muttered:

"Fall."

Before kicking him back down, resetting his progress and causing him to have to climb back up again.

Unfortunately, though, he wouldn’t be able to do that.

"This can’t be... THIS CAN’T BE—!"

With a loud and reluctant cry, he fell into the gate, forced into a Trial filled with spiders.

And a few moments later... That very same gate disappeared with a burst of mana.

Lillian, watching this happen, suddenly collapsed to her knees.

Her muscles were sore despite her regeneration. Her stamina was almost tapped out, despite her quickly recovering it through theft.

She was tired.

Oh, so tired...

’This battle... Took a lot out of me...’

She then noticed movement behind her. Looking back, she found the Beetle struggling to get up as it watched her collapse.

She gave a weak and tired smile.

"I’m fine... I’m not going to fall unconscious, don’t worry..."

As much as she wanted to collapse and close her eyes... She couldn’t.

Looking up and at the countless people on the ceiling, she muttered:

"I can’t rest... Not until I have saved all these people..."