Chapter 64: Strings of the Puppeteer

The mob of thugs and gangsters drew closer, bringing themselves to a halt when they spotted five young people standing in the road, blocking their path and refusing to budge an inch. Ultimately, they all stopped, surrounding the five youngsters who offered no opening whatsoever for them to enter the street. Motorcycles cut their engines, and the riders along with their passengers dismounted, weapons in hand.

Once the roar of the engines faded, a heavy silence settled over the area. Nearly everyone who had arrived bore a ruthless, sneering expression. Suddenly, three men stepped forward, the bald man, the one with a mohawk, and the large blue-skinned man covered in tattoos, all three of whom had previously visited Oscar’s inn and restaurant.

"You lot again! Get out of the way right now... or we won’t hesitate to beat you to a pulp!" the bald man shouted, swinging his crowbar and pointing it threateningly at the five of them.

"What a coincidence! We were actually looking for you guys, and don’t try anything clever this time, we brought a ton of backup and specialized weapons just for you," the mohawked man added with a malicious smirk.

"Sigh... Step aside. I’m feeling generous, so I won’t hold it against you that you beat Marco and Luca (the crocodile-man) black and blue until they passed out," the blue-skinned man replied.

The man sneered, clearly looking down on the five of them now that they had brought weapons and held the advantage in numbers. However, Clyde, Celes, Craig, Casca, and Corie remained unbothered. They simply stood with their arms crossed over their chests, their now-glowing red eyes fixed on the three men stepping forward, instilling a creeping sense of dread in their opponents. Seeing that the five didn’t flinch and were instead staring right back, the smirk vanished from the bald man’s face. Furious, he raised his crowbar once more.

"Alright... we tried talking to you nicely. That means you’re asking for a beating," the bald man growled in anger. He then turned around to face his mob. "Everyone... slaughter them! Do whatever you want with the girls!" he roared.

The atmosphere instantly erupted into chaos. The gang members, numbering well over thirty, cheered as they raised their weapons. Without hesitation, they charged forward, eagerly rushing to attack Clyde, Celes, Craig, Casca, and Corie. Several men lunged at Clyde, swinging their katanas and machetes with gleeful grins on their faces, but "swiiish!" their blades hit only thin air. Clyde evaded their strikes with effortless, fluid grace, completely unscathed.

Then "WHAM!" Clyde delivered a spinning kick, sending two men flying. He spun again to avoid a machete slash and swept the back of his hand across three more, instantly swatting them away. Unlike Clyde, Craig simply marched forward. The men wielding sickles, crowbars, and machetes slashed at him, but he casually parried every blow with his arms before "BOOM!" retaliating. Every man who attacked him was knocked flying, unable to get back up after tasting his counteracting punches and kicks.

Corie swept her leg across the ground, tripping several attackers rushing her, before leaping into the air to dodge a swinging chain. She split-kicked two men in the head mid-air, leaving them sprawled motionlessly on the ground. Casca moved at lightning speed, taking the initiative before they could even strike, unleashing a high-speed barrage of punches, jabs, and kicks. The chaotic melee raged on as every man surged forward to attack, only for scores of them to end up laid out flat on the dirt.

Meanwhile, Celes, who was also under attack, merely hopped around to dodge incoming slashes with both hands tucked behind her back. Before long, she found herself cornered by five burly men wielding baseball bats, machetes, and swords.

"You can’t run anymore, brat!" one of the men sneered.

"Woah... you’re pretty cute, aren’t you? Take off that mask, let me see my new toy," another added.

Celes didn’t answer. She simply tilted her head, a clear smile forming beneath her mask. As the five men closed in, the man with ant-like antennae suddenly went rigid. His hand holding the baseball bat jerked upward and "THWACK! he swung it straight into the black-winged man beside him, striking the back of his head so hard that the winged man collapsed face-first into the dirt, motionless. Blood began pooling on the ground beneath his skull.

Seeing this, the remaining three men stared at the antenna-headed man with wide, terrified eyes. Confused, the antenna-headed man stood frozen, his arm still raised from the swing.

"Hey... why the hell did you hit him?!" the crow-faced man screamed.

"I... I don’t know! My body moved on its own... I didn’t mean to hit him!" the antenna-headed man yelled back, panic lacing his voice.

Suddenly, "Aaaagh... what the hell?!" The two men whipped around, shocked to see the blue-skinned man, his face pale with terror, plunging a katana straight through the calf of the human man in front of him, making the human scream in horror.

"Sorry... sorry! I don’t understand... I can’t move my body... it just moved by itself... sorry!" the blue-skinned man cried out, petrified.

The crow-faced man looked at the frozen antenna-headed man, the human man crying out in pain with a pierced calf, and then at the terrified blue-skinned man who had yet to pull his blade out of the wound. All three men stood tense and stiff, as though fighting against an invisible force restraining their movements. The crow-faced man turned to glare at Celes, who was still tilting her head with her hands behind her back. However, he caught sight of a vertical purple eye opening on Celes’s forehead, and the realization hit him instantly.

"This is all your doing... Damn you... Die!"

The crow-faced man lunged forward to attack, but "THWACK!" "SHING!" "BLAM!" the antenna-headed man cracked him over the head with the baseball bat, the writhing human man shot him straight through the chest with a pistol, and the blue-skinned man drove his katana through his neck from behind.

"Hmm? What were you trying to do just now?" Celes asked casually, looking down at the crow-faced man who was gasping for air as blood gushed from his beak, staring up at her with horror in his eyes.

Celes then turned her gaze toward the human man. Immediately, the man raised his handgun, struggling in vain to restrain his own arm as it slowly aimed the barrel directly at the terrified, paralyzed antenna-headed man. The antenna-headed man turned deathly pale, his whole life flashing before his eyes.

"Hey... cut it off! Cut off my arm... quick!" the human man screamed to the blue-skinned man.

However, his face went rigid once more, turning as white as a sheet as if watching a horror movie, he saw his blue-skinned companion already lying on the ground, his throat slit by his own sword. Seeing the blue-skinned man flat on his back, the crow-faced man kneeling motionless, and the antenna-headed man resigning himself to being shot, the human man finally understood that his life ended today. He closed his eyes in defeat.

"BLAM!"

The pistol in his hand discharged, sending an ice bullet tearing through the antenna-headed man’s skull, dropping him instantly as his bat clattered to the dirt. The human man snapped his eyes open as his arm moved once again, gasping in shock as the gun barrel placed itself right between his eyes at an awkward angle.

"BLAM!"

The ice bullet pierced the man’s forehead, plunging his vision into instant darkness. Once everyone was dead, Celes stepped toward the crow-faced man kneeling on the ground, lifeless, head bowed, yet his eyes still wide open. She gently reached down and closed his eyelids.

"Sorry about that... I really don’t like violence... Wonder if the others are done yet," Celes remarked softly, standing up and turning to look at the rest of her group.

As it turned out, quiet had already returned to the street. All thirty-plus members of the gangster mob were lying motionless on the ground, whether dead or alive was unclear. Celes watched as Clyde, Craig, Casca, and Corie walked over to her with relaxed steps.

"Told you so, not even a single drop of sweat... What a joke," Casca said.

"Hehe... yeah, but that was fun," Corie added.

"Hmm... looking at the scene, it almost looks like a turf war between rival gangs," Craig noted, surveying their surroundings.

"A gang war? What’s that?" Celes asked.

"I’ll explain later. For now, let’s get out of here before the authorities catch us. Just leave them as they are, like Craig said, their positions and those overturned motorcycles make it look just like a gang war," Clyde answered.

"Okay... let’s go," Celes, Craig, Casca, and Corie replied together.

The five of them casually turned around and strolled back toward their inn, chatting happily among themselves without looking back even once. As they walked, Celes turned to look at Clyde, Craig, Casca, and Corie, who were chatting happily among themselves.

"Sorry... I have a question," Celes said.

Everyone immediately stopped talking and turned to look at Celes, who was staring curiously at her four siblings.

"What’s your question?" Clyde asked.

"Among all those people back there... which one was their leader? And if he wasn’t there, where is their hideout?" Celes asked.

"Oh," Clyde, Casca, Craig, and Corie gasped as realization struck. Caught up in the excitement, they had completely forgotten to interrogate any member of the mob, and now it was clearly too late.