Chapter 420 - 419: Luna Jacobs

Chapter 420: Chapter 419: Luna Jacobs

She really did look pathetic.

It would have been more convincing if her fingers hadn’t been slowly closing, trying to grip something.

Seraphina Sinclair’s blade moved with extreme speed and extraordinary precision!

Artemis’s hand was only an inch from the dagger at her waist when Seraphina Sinclair’s blade was already pressed against her neck.

"That was close."

Seraphina Sinclair said, but her tone held no trace of relief.

Artemis’s body froze.

The air grew frighteningly still.

Seraphina Sinclair looked down at Artemis, the edge of her Blade flush against her neck. Another millimeter forward, and it would slice open her skin.

"Were you reaching for your dagger?" Seraphina Sinclair asked.

Artemis didn’t answer.

"Planning to stab me while I was talking?"

Artemis still said nothing.

But she slowly lifted her head. The tear tracks were still on her face, but the shock and fear had vanished. In a curious tone, she asked, "How did you know?"

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t answer.

Artemis froze for a moment, then laughed.

"Impressive," she said. "You’re really something else."

She spread her hands open, placing them on her knees, completely abandoning her plan to attack.

"I surrender."

Seraphina Sinclair’s blade didn’t move.

"For real this time." Artemis looked up, meeting Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes. "What I said before was half-true, half-false. But this is the truth. I surrender. It’s not that I can’t beat you in a fight, it’s that I can’t outsmart you."

Seraphina Sinclair finally withdrew her blade and retorted with the utmost seriousness, "You can’t beat me in a fight, either."

Artemis was left speechless.

She opened her mouth to say something, then swallowed her words. She opened it again, and again swallowed them back.

After doing this twice, she finally managed to force out a sentence:

"You... *that’s* what you’re focused on right now?"

Seraphina Sinclair nodded earnestly. "The way you said it made it sound like you could beat me."

Artemis: "..."

Artemis took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

She took another deep breath. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Her gloomy mood was swept away in an instant. She reached behind her back, gripped the dagger at her waist, and lunged!

「Two minutes later...」

Artemis was sprawled on the floor in an even more pathetic state than before.

"Fine," she said. "You’re better. I can’t beat you in a fight, and I can’t outsmart you. I’ve lost to you completely, in every conceivable way. Satisfied?"

Seraphina Sinclair thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Yes."

Artemis lay on the ground, her face pressed against the cold floor of the ring. ’I’ve never been so humiliated in my entire life,’ she thought.

It wasn’t that she had never lost before.

It was that she had never lost in such a frustrating way.

She had already surrendered. She had already humbled herself completely. She was even prepared to face death or become a puppet.

But this woman just had to get hung up on the question of whether Artemis could beat her in a fight.

And then she’d lost her cool.

And then she’d charged.

And now she was lying here.

Artemis buried her face even lower, not wanting Seraphina Sinclair to see her expression.

’It’s not the pain, it’s the humiliation.’

’How could I, Artemis, who has dominated the Zone for so long, do something so stupid?’

’The woman had already removed the blade from my neck, she’d already let me off the hook, but I just had to prove I could beat her. And I got taken down in two minutes.’

’Two minutes.’

’I didn’t even last two minutes!’

It had only been a week. How had Serafelle Sinclair become so terrifyingly strong, while she herself was still stuck in the same place?

Artemis frowned, lost in thought for a moment. When she looked up again, she saw Seraphina Sinclair carefully studying the instructions for the Puppet Paperman.

Artemis stared at the terrifying woman before her for a while, all thoughts of resistance completely gone.

She shifted into a more comfortable position on the floor and pointed at the phrase "gradually lose self-awareness" that Seraphina Sinclair was looking at. "If it weren’t for that line, I’d actually be pretty willing to be your puppet."

Seraphina Sinclair was blunt. "Willing or not, you’re doing it."

She had already figured out how to use the item. The first step was to ensure the target’s—that is, Artemis’s—mental state.

Seraphina Sinclair stared at her injuries for a moment. The more she looked, the less certain she felt. So she raised her hand and slashed Artemis twice more.

Artemis looked down at the two new wounds on her arm, then back up at Seraphina Sinclair, her expression indescribably complex.

"What... what are you doing?"

"Making sure your mental state is weak enough," Seraphina Sinclair answered matter-of-factly. "The instructions say the worse the target’s condition, the higher the success rate of the puppet link."

The corner of Artemis’s mouth twitched.

"So you were afraid I was too energetic, and the link would fail?"

"Yes."

"You might as well just kill me."

"If I kill you, I won’t have an Engraving Master," Seraphina Sinclair said, looking at her seriously. "I need you alive, but I don’t need you to be too lucid."

Artemis took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

She felt like she’d taken more deep breaths today than in her entire life, each one an attempt to suppress the urge to curse.

"Fine," she said. "You’re ruthless. I get it."

She closed her eyes, adopting the posture of a lamb to the slaughter.

"Come on, hurry up, before I change my mind."

This was indeed a good opportunity.

Perhaps it was because Artemis truly had no will to resist, or perhaps Seraphina Sinclair’s two cuts were perfectly timed, but using the Puppet Paperman went unexpectedly smoothly.

The paperman ignited in Seraphina Sinclair’s hand without any wind, turning into a faint wisp of green smoke that slowly drifted toward Artemis.

Artemis instinctively tried to dodge, but her body felt as if it were pinned in place, unable to move.

The wisp of smoke entered between her eyebrows and vanished.

A moment later, Artemis opened her eyes.

Her eyes were still their original amber color, but their expression had changed.

It wasn’t the emptiness of lost consciousness, nor the daze of being controlled, but an overly calm gaze, like a pool of stagnant water.

Just like Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes.

"Master," Artemis said, her voice completely flat. "Your orders?"

Seraphina Sinclair looked at her without a word.

Artemis looked back, waiting quietly.

The two of them stared at each other, and a dead silence fell over the ring.

After a long moment, Seraphina Sinclair finally spoke. "How do you feel right now?"

"I feel nothing," Artemis replied. "Just very calm."

Seraphina Sinclair focused for a moment. The Puppet Paperman had indeed worked. She could faintly sense Artemis—

No, this person’s real name was Luna Jacobs.

She could faintly sense Luna Jacobs’s presence and what Luna Jacobs could do for her.

Combat, engraving... any Skill she herself possessed, even cooking, could be done by the puppet. Moreover, the puppet was absolutely loyal.

In addition to this information, a notification panel appeared before Seraphina Sinclair:

[Puppet Link Established]

[Puppet Name: Luna Jacobs (Modifiable)]

[Puppet Level: D-level (Upgradeable)]

[Self-Awareness: Not Selected (Selectable)]

[Special Ability: Engraving Master Legacy (Fully Retained)]

[Current Directive: None]