The elevator doors opened to the sound of polite, terrifying applause.
Floor 10: The Grand Theater of Fate was not a dungeon. It was a stage. A massive, crimson curtain hung from the sky. Spotlight beams cut through the darkness, illuminating a checkered floor. The audience seats were filled with Mannequins—faceless, wooden dolls that clapped stiffly in unison.
CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.
[SYSTEM ALERT: BOSS FLOOR REACHED.]
[BOSS: THE MARIONETTE KING (LVL 25)]
[THEME: CONTROL.]
"I hate theaters," Sarah whispered, her [Cowardly Tactician] sense tingling. "Nothing good happens in a theater. It's either a tragedy or an overpriced musical."
"Welcome, Creator!" a scratchy, screeching voice boomed from the stage.
The crimson curtains parted.
Standing in the center spotlight was a monstrosity. It looked like a twisted, dark reflection of the First Son. While the First Son was made of polished, noble Mahogany and Ironwood, this creature was made of Scrap. Broken chair legs, splintered tables, rejected carvings—all held together by tangled red strings.
It was every mistake Aryan had ever made in his workshop, given life.
"Do you recognize me?" The Marionette King jeered, twitching his jagged fingers. "I am the shavings on the floor! I am the knots you cut out! I am the Bad Draft!"
The First Son rumbled, stepping forward. His amber eyes glowed with sadness.
"Brother?" the Giant asked.
"I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER!" The King shrieked. "I AM YOUR SHADOW!"
The King raised his hands. Ten invisible strings shot out from his fingertips.
They didn't aim for Aryan. They aimed for his party.
[SKILL: THE PUPPETEER'S DECREE]
[EFFECT: TOTAL BODY CONTROL.]
"Move!" Aryan shouted.
But they couldn't.
The strings connected.
SNAP.
Mira's head jerked back. Her eyes went wide with horror, but her body moved on its own. She drew her Twin Daggers.
The First Son froze, then slowly turned his massive cannon-arm toward Aryan.
Rhea raised her lute, her fingers forcing a [Song of Despair] that drained Aryan's stamina.
"I can't stop!" Mira screamed, tears welling in her eyes. "Aryan, run! My body... it wants to kill you!"
"That's the beauty of it!" The Marionette King laughed, dancing a jig on the stage. "I don't need to fight you, Architect. I will make your masterpiece destroy you!"
The Fish with No Limbs
"Attack!" the King commanded.
Mira launched herself at Aryan. She was fast—faster than she had ever been. Her [Anchor] class gave her stability, making her strikes unavoidable.
SLASH.
Aryan barely dodged. The dagger cut a lock of his hair.
"Mira, fight it!" Aryan shouted, parrying her second strike with the scabbard of Excaliburn.
"I can't!" Mira sobbed. She spun, aiming a kick at his ribs. "The System... it's overriding my muscles!"
BOOM.
The First Son swung his shield. Aryan rolled under it, the wind of the impact nearly knocking him out.
"This is bad," Aryan gritted his teeth. He couldn't attack them. If he hurt Mira, he failed. If he broke the First Son, he failed.
He looked around. Sarah was frozen, forced to cast debuffs on him. Rhea was playing the soundtrack of his death.
But there was one person missing from the attack.
Barnaby.
The fish was floating in his jar (which had been dropped on the floor). The red strings were attached to the jar, pulling it left and right.
"AHA!" Barnaby yelled. "You fool! You cannot puppet me! I have no limbs! I am aerodynamically smooth!"
The Marionette King pulled the strings, trying to force Barnaby to attack. But the jar just spun in circles.
Spin. Spin. Spin.
"I am getting dizzy," Barnaby bubbled. "But I remain unconquered!"
"Barnaby!" Aryan shouted, dodging a lethal stab from Mira. "Use your [Butterfly Effect]! Create a distraction!"
"I am trying!" Barnaby screamed as he spun. "But the centrifugal force is scrambling my brain! I feel like a smoothie!"
The Red Pen vs. The Strings
Aryan backed away. Mira was relentless. The First Son was a wall of pain.
He needed to see the strings.
"Fragment #4!" Aryan shouted.
[ITEM ACTIVATED: THE MIRROR OF TRUTH]
His eyes flashed silver. Suddenly, the invisible world became visible.
He saw the Red Strings. They weren't just magic; they were Code. Lines of glowing red data connecting the King's fingers to his friends' spines.
[OBJECT: PUPPET STRING]
[DURABILITY: INFINITE]
[PROPERTY: CANNOT BE CUT BY PHYSICAL ATTACKS.]
"Cannot be cut?" Aryan sneered. "We'll see about that."
He sheathed Excaliburn. He didn't need a sword. He needed an editor.
"Mira! Thrust at my heart!" Aryan commanded.
"What?!" Mira screamed, fighting the control. "No! I won't!"
"DO IT!"
The Marionette King laughed. "He wants to die! Oblige him, my pretty doll!"
He yanked Mira's string.
Mira lunged, her dagger aimed straight for Aryan's chest.
Aryan didn't dodge. He stood his ground.
He raised his mahogany hand. His finger glowed with the [Red Pen].
He waited until the dagger was one inch from his heart.
He waited until the Red String was taut, vibrating with tension.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: THE RED PEN]
[TARGET: THE STRING'S DEFINITION]
Aryan didn't cut the string. He touched the code of the string.
A holographic keyboard appeared.
[PROPERTY: "CONTROL"]
Aryan deleted "CONTROL".
He typed: "TANGLE".
[SYSTEM EDIT: STRING PROPERTY UPDATED.]
SNAP.
The string didn't break. It rebelled.
Instead of pulling Mira forward, the string suddenly whipped back, looping around itself in a chaotic knot. It pulled Mira backwards, away from Aryan.
"What?!" The Marionette King yanked his hand. "Why is the line snagged?!"
Aryan didn't stop. He rolled under the First Son's legs. He touched the thick string controlling the Giant.
[EDIT: "HEAVY" -> "HELIUM"]
WHOOSH.
The First Son didn't attack. He started floating.
"I am light!" The First Son rumbled, his feet leaving the ground. "Brother, I am a balloon!"
The Giant floated up toward the ceiling, his massive wooden body drifting harmlessly away from the fight.
The King's Tantrum
"YOU ARE CHEATING!" The Marionette King screamed. "YOU CAN'T EDIT THE BOSS MECHANICS!"
"I'm the Author," Aryan said, walking toward the stage. "And you're just a bad draft."
The King tried to pull his strings, but they were a mess. Mira was tangled in a knot on the floor. The First Son was bobbing on the ceiling. Rhea was playing jazz instead of a dirge because Aryan had edited her sheet music.
The King realized he had lost control.
He roared. The scrap wood of his body shifted. He grew into a massive, jagged beast of splinters and nails.
[PHASE 2: THE SPLINTER BEAST]
"IF I CAN'T PUPPET THEM, I WILL CRUSH YOU MYSELF!"
The King charged. He was huge, fast, and angry.
Aryan stood alone in the center of the stage. He had no tank. He had no DPS.
But he had Excaliburn.
The sword on his back hummed. It had watched Aryan save his friends. It had watched him refuse to hurt Mira.
"You..." the sword whispered in his mind. "You really are a good protagonist, aren't you?"
"I try," Aryan whispered, gripping the hilt.
"Okay," Excaliburn said. The voice wasn't shaky anymore. "I'll come out. But just for a minute. And don't let them take pictures."
Aryan smiled. "Deal."
He planted his feet. The Splinter Beast raised a massive fist of nails.
Aryan drew the sword.
SHING.
This time, there was no hesitation. The blade emerged fully. It wasn't just steel; it was Golden Narrative. It shone with the light of a thousand finished chapters.
[SKILL: HERO'S RESOLVE]
[EFFECT: IGNORES DEFENSE.]
Aryan didn't slash wildly. He performed a single, clean upward stroke.
It was the stroke of a carver removing the final piece of wood to reveal the statue underneath.
"You are broken," Aryan said softly. "Let me fix you."
The blade passed through the Marionette King.
It didn't cut him.
It Purified him.
The red strings dissolved. The jagged nails vanished. The rotten wood turned into clean, white ash.
The King stopped mid-charge.
He looked at his hands. They weren't claws anymore. They were smooth.
"I..." the King whispered. His voice wasn't scratchy. It was soft. "I... feel... finished."
He looked at Aryan.
"Thank you... Father."
The Marionette King dissolved into a cloud of golden light.
[BOSS DEFEATED.]
[FLOOR 10 CLEARED.]
[ACHIEVEMENT: PACIFIST RUN (KIND OF).]
The First Son's Origin
The golden light didn't fade. It swirled and flew upward, straight into the chest of the First Son (who was slowly floating down as the 'Helium' edit wore off).
The Giant landed with a thud.
His body glowed. The ironwood grew darker, richer. Leaves sprouted from his shoulders.
[SYSTEM ALERT: UNIT EVOLUTION.]
[THE FIRST SON HAS ABSORBED HIS SHADOW.]
[CLASS UPGRADE: WORLD-TREE GUARDIAN.]
The First Son looked at his hands. "I remember now," he rumbled deep in his chest. "I wasn't just carved from wood, Brother. You carved me from a branch of the World Tree that fell in the Architect's garden."
"Royalty," Barnaby noted, finally stopping his spinning jar. "I knew I was associating with high society."
Mira stood up, rubbing her wrists where the phantom strings had been. She walked over to Aryan. She didn't say anything. She just punched him in the arm. Hard.
"Ow," Aryan rubbed his arm. "What was that for?"
"For making me try to kill you," Mira said. Then she hugged him. "And for not dying."
Aryan hugged her back. "I told you. I like the dress. I'm not going to let you ruin it with my blood."
The Reward
A chest appeared in the center of the stage.
Aryan opened it. Inside was a key made of black obsidian.
[ITEM: KEY TO THE UNDER-TOWER]
Description: Unlocks the elevator to Floors 11-20.
And beside it, a letter.
It was handwritten. The ink was wet.
"Dear Aryan,
Congratulations on passing the tutorial. Floor 1-10 was just to see if you had the guts.
Floor 11 is where I started to lose my mind.
Beware the Silence.
- The Previous Hero"
"Vikrant," Aryan whispered. "He left notes."
"The tutorial is over?" Sarah asked, looking pale. "That was the tutorial?"
"We're just getting started," Aryan said, clutching the key.