Dark Dragon: The Summoned Hero Is A Villain

Chapter 314: The Puppeteer Is...

The basement was dead silent as both sides stared at each other.

Then, a low chuckle filled the air.

The Puppeteer tilted his masked head, fingers twitching faintly, and spoke with a distorted, almost gleeful voice.

"Welcome," he said. "I’ve been expecting you."

Noah’s fingers clenched into fists, his body instinctively lowering into a fighting stance.

Arlo’s eyes narrowed, working overtime to memorize every detail he could about the Puppeteer.

The Puppeteer spread his arms, the gesture theatrical. "Do you like my workshop? It’s taken months to perfect. The blood, the pain, the screams... all part of the masterpiece."

Before either of them could move, the floor rippled with a surge of mana.

The runes across the walls flared red, and a barrier shot upwards, sealing the exits behind them.

Arlo’s eyes flicked around the room. "He’s locked us in."

"Exactly," the Puppeteer said, voice dripping with satisfaction. "There would be no interruptions and no escape. Just you, me, and my beautiful creations."

He began to walk in a slow circle around the glowing symbols, his steps echoing like a heartbeat.

"I’ve waited so long for this," he said softly. "The chance to finally kill you, Noah Webb. To tear you apart, limb from limb."

Noah’s expression darkened. "You know me personally."

"Of course I do," the Puppeteer laughed, the sound thin and manic. "You’re the reason I’m like this!"

Arlo’s head snapped towards Noah, confusion flashing across his face. "He knows you? He has a grudge?"

The Puppeteer stopped walking. His gloved hand rose slowly to his face. "Know me, Noah. Remember me."

With a slow motion, he pulled off his mask.

The sound of it hitting the ground echoed like a hammer blow.

The face beneath it was pale, drawn, and far too familiar.

"Ben," Noah said flatly.

Arlo froze, his mind spinning. "Ben... Stanley?"

The same classmate they’d found tied up and half-dead more than a month ago, stood before them, smiling with a hollow, twisted joy.

"You’re surprised?" Ben sneered. "Don’t be. You should’ve known better."

Arlo’s eyes widened as realization dawned. "The rescue... you planned that."

Ben laughed in delight . "Of course I did. You think I’d let my enemies roam free while I hid in the shadows? No, no, I needed to be close. I needed you to trust me."

Noah’s voice was calm. "And the potion you drank?"

"A little trick," Ben said proudly. "A mixture that dulls the traces of my energy, imposing another atop it. The moment I drank it, even your cursed eyes, Arlo Kael, couldn’t see me for what I was. A perfect disguise accompanied with a perfect story."

"So you let us save you," Noah said, nodding. "You used us."

Ben’s grin widened. "Used you? No. You gave me everything I needed. Time, cover, access. You two were my finest pawns."

Noah snorted, taking a step forward. "And yet, you’re still a pathetic idiot. You get your hands on power, and you’re still just as mediocre as you were before."

Ben’s eyes burned. "You think you’re so far above me, don’t you?"

"I don’t think it," Noah said coldly. "I know it."

Something inside Ben snapped. His mana surged like a storm. "You always mocked me!" he shouted. "Called me worthless, useless! But someone finally saw my potential."

He smiled, that same broken smile Noah remembered from the classroom, twisted now by hate.

"Do you remember when you called me worthless, Noah?" Ben asked quietly. "Someone disagreed."

Arlo frowned. "Lady in Dark."

Ben laughed, raising his hands high. "Yes! She gave me this gift! She showed me how to consume mana. To take it from others, to breathe life into corpses, to make them dance at my command!"

Arlo’s stomach churned as he glanced at the bodies hanging from the chains. "The missing students..."

"My experiments," Ben said proudly. "Failures, mostly. But they served their purpose. And now—" He snapped his fingers.

The floor split open, and from the shadows beneath, the corpses began to move.

Dozens of them, some shambling, others crawling, their flesh half-rotted and faces twisted in pain. Their eyes glowed with faint red light, and strings of dark mana bound their limbs like puppets.

"Kill them," Ben commanded.

The undead surged forward in a wave.

Noah’s shadows erupted from his feet, forming into blades that sliced through the nearest corpses.

Arlo’s hands glowed icy blue as frost spread along the floor. "I’ll handle the left!" he called.

Noah nodded, cleaving through two corpses with a single sweep of his shadow sword. The creatures fell apart, but more took their place.

Arlo’s ice spears tore through another cluster, freezing them solid before shattering them with a twist of his hand. He ducked under a claw swipe, his foresight flashing seconds ahead of the enemy’s movements.

Ben stood at the center, laughing. "You can’t win! Every corpse you destroy feeds mana back into me!"

"Then we’ll just end you," Noah growled.

He sprinted forward, dodging grasping arms and shadowy tendrils, until he was within striking distance. His sword swung, but a wall of writhing corpses surged up to block the blow.

Ben grinned. "Too slow!"

The corpses lunged at Arlo, piling onto him. For a moment, his body vanished under the mass. Then they exploded.

In that same instant, the explosion and its emerging shockwave froze in the air.

Then they began to reverse back in time. The explosion compressed back into itself and the corpses began to crawl backwards in time, revealing Arlo.

His veins bulged as blood dripped from his nose. "Now, Noah!"

Noah thrust his hand forward, summoning a barrage of dark fire. The flames consumed the frozen undead, reducing them to ash before time could catch up.

Arlo gasped, dropping to one knee. The frost around him shattered, and he coughed up blood.

Ben stared, momentarily stunned, then began to laugh again. "Oh, that’s beautiful! That little trick almost made me feel something!"

He lifted his hand. One of the remaining corpses stumbled forward, carrying a long, rusted sword.

The weapon trembled in its grasp before Ben’s fingers twitched, and the sword flew from the corpse’s hand straight into his own.

He gripped it tightly, red light running along the blade’s edge.

"Enough playing," Ben said softly. "You’ve seen my puppets, my art. But now..."

He raised the sword, his smile stretching wider.

"...it’s time for the artist to perform."

The runes on the floor ignited again, brighter than before, and the entire room shook. The air vibrated with the rhythm of a hundred whispers as the voices of the dead filled the air, the sound of their anguish feeding into Ben’s power.

Arlo forced himself to stand beside Noah, ice gathering in his palms once again.

Ben pointed the sword at them, his grin feral. "This is where you die, Noah Webb. Both of you. Your story ends here."

Noah smirked, his eyes narrowing. "You talk too much."

Ben laughed, the sound echoing off the bloodstained walls. "And you never learned to listen."

The air crackled with tension.

Then, all at once, Ben’s sword flared, and he charged.