Chapter 27: The Puppet Master
Characters (in order of first appearance):
Shino Aburame / Morte Tafanozoppo
Misumi Tsurugi / Angolo Spada
While the Challenge of the Fist matches were still going on, Tony sat within the Alchemic circle in a daze after the painful sealing of the Vampire's Curse. Spauracchio was standing outside the circle, leaning against a desk in a corner of the room, breathing heavily as the Exorcism took a heavy toll on the nature energy he possessed. But it was then that he heard the door to the room open and a figure stepped out from the shadows into the light of the candles. It was Typhonragazzo, wearing the same gray suit and purple tie as the mysterious man Tony saw earlier, but he didn't notice.
"Well, Spauracchio, I never expected someone with your power to be able to pull off a complete Exorcism," Typhonragazzo said, looking at the ring of Latin words that encircled the downward pentagram on Tony's neck.
"How did you get in here? I distinctly remember locking the door," Spauracchio said, placing his hand near where his gun was.
"Locks are always breakable, just like this Exorcist Seal you've placed on Tony."
"What do you mean?"
"You know this won't completely cut away the Curse's power," Typhonragazzo said, walking around the circle towards Spauracchio. "It will only stay at bay as long as Tony wills it, and I doubt it'll last."
"How do you know that, and why are you so interested in Tony?"
Typhonragazzo chuckled maliciously, and sat next to Spauracchio, making him flinch. "His desire for revenge is strong…even you can't deny that."
"But what does that have to do with you?"
"I need Tony for a special purpose, and he needs me. Apart from the Vampire's Curse, I have the ability to grant him the power he wishes to see his revenge through, and he has everything I need for my ultimate goal."
"And what…is that?"
"You're a good man, Spauracchio, but your protection won't keep me from possessing Tony," he said, and closed the door behind him.
Spauracchio thought about going after him, but knew that it would only get him into more trouble. Looking back at Tony, he fathomed the possibility that Typhonragazzo might come back into the room, but he figured it wasn't likely considering the damage Typhonragazzo had already caused. So he left the room, locking the door a second time, and walked over to Gelato and Rosa.
When Rosa noticed Spauracchio, she immediately went up to him with a worried frown and asked, "Where's Tony? Is he okay?"
"Tony's fine, he just needs to recover from the Exorcist Seal I placed upon his Vampire's Curse," Spauracchio said assuredly. "So how was the match I missed?"
"It was disgusting."
"It was awesome!" Gelato cried. "The match was between Zach Staffa from the Suono group, and this weird guy with dark glasses named Morte Tafanozoppo from Foglia's Squad 8. As soon as the fight started, he asked Zach to forfeit, as Zach only had one good arm with the other in a sling, but Zach decided to attack anyway, and shot a blast of wind from his palm. Morte dodged it, and then he summoned bugs, which created a barrier around Zach. He refused to give up, and took his other arm out of the sling for another attack. Instead, his forearms blew up and completely severed from his body, as it turned out there were bugs inside the arms!"
"Gelato, did you really have to go into that much detail? Now I'm sick again," Rosa said, holding her stomach. "But I guess that doesn't surprise me, considering that Zach literally had tubes in his palms."
Spauracchio was about to make a comment, when he was interrupted by the Godfather pulling the slot machine and called the names of the next two contenders. It was Oscuro from the Rena Siblings and the other guy from Casco's team, whose name was Angolo Spada. The two men stepped into the white circle, with Oscuro carrying something on his back wrapped in bandages. Gelato remembered the thing when he met the Rena Siblings for the first time, and was now curious to see what was inside it.
"Begin!" Imprevisto said, raising his hand and stepping away from the circle.
Like Corazza, Angolo quickly rushed at Oscuro and had him in a bind. He grabbed Oscuro's throat, but Oscuro tried to block it by grabbing Angolo's arm. This had no effect on Angolo, who only squeezed Oscuro's throat tighter and tighter. Gelato then looked at Pallamano, who was smirking, and then Tarma, who was indifferent to the whole situation.
"If you don't surrender," Angolo said, using both hands now to strangle Oscuro. "I'll break your goddamn neck!"
"Go to hell!" Oscuro replied, and let go of Angolo's arm, quickly making a hand-sign while Angolo wasn't looking.
This made Angolo angry, and just as he made the final squeeze, Oscuro's body was teleported away and replaced with a human-sized puppet with matted straw hair, three eyes, and wore an old ragged cloak to cover its wooden body. Its neck broke easily, causing its head to fall to the floor. Everyone was shocked, including Angolo. But the puppet still stood and grabbed Angolo with multiple wooden arms that suddenly appeared from underneath its cloak. Then the wrapped bundle that was now attached to the puppet's back came undone, revealing Oscuro with strings of light coming from his hands as they connected to the puppets' arms.
"Say hello to my little friend Corvo (Crow)," Oscuro said, moving his fingers as the puppets' arms started to crush Angolo. "We switched places using Teleportation, and now…you're going to die."
"Wait, wait, please, have mercy! I don't wanna die!" Angolo pleaded, feeling the puppet's grip getting tighter. "I surrender! I SURRENDER!"
But as Oscuro's hands closed together, the puppet's arms crushed Angolo till blood was spilled. It was then that Imprevisto intercepted, and declared Oscuro the winner, therefore ending the match. Reluctantly, Oscuro forced his puppet to let go of Angolo, who fell in a bloody heap as the medics quickly took him to the corner to be fixed up with Healing Alchemy. While the observers tried to take in what they just saw, the Godfather ordered two of his four bodyguards to clean up the blood before the next match.
"Did that guy just get nearly killed…by a puppet?" Rosa said, staring at the puppet's head, which Oscuro retrieved and was screwing it back onto the body. "Is such a thing possible?"
"Yes, it is called Puppeteer Magic (Puppet Technique), which is taught by Grandmother Sempre (Granny Chiyo) who resides in the Rena family's territory," Spauracchio answered, while reading Make-Out Paradise. "All it involves is channeling one's nature energy into an inanimate object, such as a puppet, and manipulating it with strings made out of nature energy."
"That's so creepy," Gelato said, feeling uncomfortable. "I hope I don't have to fight him."
End of Chapter 27