F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!

Chapter 323: Theatrical Duel

"...Evelyn, are you ready?" Esther asks as we stand in the coliseum bleachers, where an announcer is spewing a load of nonsense hyping up Lya, who’s about to fight. That woman turned our duel into a public event, arrogantly declaring she’ll defeat the Demon Queen in combat.

"I’m ready, Esther, don’t worry. I’ve already worked out a winning strategy. I’m going to win!" I say confidently to her. The three agreed-upon days have passed, and during those three days I thought hard about what to do.

"Your confidence puts me at ease. Go out there and end her, Evelyn," Esther says, fired up. But before I turn to head to my starting position, Esther grabs my hand. I look at her and a chill runs through me.

"I know what you were thinking, Evelyn, and I swear, if you throw this fight on purpose to make me jealous, you’ll pay dearly."

"...I-I won’t do... that."

"That’s better. Win this fight, and if you’re going to lose, give it everything you have before you do. But if you lose and I figure out it was on purpose just to make me jealous, you’ll pay a price you won’t like." She gives me a little shove.

"..." I climb uncomfortably onto the platform that takes me down to the arena where Lya already is. I look up and see Syl’Vyr and Faye looking at me. Faye seems to be lamenting for me, and Syl’Vyr looks uncomfortable that I’m the fighter. Both of them know I can’t be strong.

’Both of them talked plenty about me to Lya when Lya asked...’ It seems they’ve already fully decided where their loyalty lies. But fortunately, they know nothing about the current me. Everything they told Lya was stuff from the past, back when I was pathetic.

"..." The announcer has left the arena while I analyze the terrain. It’s a circular arena, 1900 square meters. It’s quite large, really, as if built for truly intense fights.

"So, Demon Queen, are you ready to be my slave?" Lya flashes a deeply sadistic smile as she says this, as if her victory is an absolute certainty.

"...Sorry, but you’re not my type of woman, so can we just wrap this up?" When I say that, she grinds her teeth at me.

"You’re awfully conceited. Soon, I will be your type."

"...Your foolish arrogance really does make you look like an animal, just as Esther said. I will defeat you without taking a single step. I bet on it. Do you accept that bet?" When I say this, veins bulge on her forehead from sheer hatred. Her tail whips aggressively, and her ears stand fully erect.

"...Hahaha... YOU BITCH... I accept that bet!!" she says with pure disgust. We stare each other down until the bell signaling the start of the fight rings out. It’s a loud sound that reverberates through the entire venue.

"Let Act 1 begin." I start by using Theatre Fragmented into Acts so my eyes can track her speed.

Theatre Fragmented into Acts (Description = As a master puppeteer, you hold the ability to divide everything into acts like a theatre play. This means that by using this skill, the user can circumvent restrictions and weaknesses temporarily, like a play’s script where the user controls each act. However, the more acts there are, the higher the cost.)

Her speed is absurd as she charges at me with a grabbing motion, but as she closes in, her arm hits an indestructible thread. Her hand stops centimeters from my face, and she jumps back, confused.

Because of all the eyes on us and the rules, I couldn’t set up threads beforehand, but now that the fight has begun, I can do whatever I want with indestructible threads. And while the idea of making a cocoon and locking myself inside seems good, by doing that I would lose contact with the outside world and wouldn’t be able to fight.

Lya tries to attack from every direction while I don’t move. Each one of her strikes is extremely fast, but it’s defended by threads that appear at the exact point she tries to hit, stopping her completely.

"Are you just going to stand there cowardly defending yourself? Like a failure!" she complains as shattered trails appear on the ground while she ramps up her speed, trying to break through my defense.

"Just defending myself? What nonsense I have the displeasure of hearing. If you’re too weak to break through my defense, then am I truly the coward and failure here?" I return the taunt. However, her speed is already so high that my eyes can barely keep up.

’I think it’s time to start act two...’ I drop my defense completely. Lya falls for it, exploiting the opening. I lift one leg completely and, at the perfect moment, deliver a brutal axe kick downwards, hitting Lya’s head as she gets too close.

Her head slams into the ground as everything trembles, and you can hear the cracks spreading through the entire city. I look over at the bleachers where Esther seems surprised.

Lya, with some difficulty and totally dazed, jumps back with her head bleeding, while Syl’Vyr and Faye stare at me in shock. After all, someone "weak" just landed an attack that caused tremors across an entire city.

’I see...’ I had expected this would happen. What I did was use the Toy Box of Tragedy.

Toy Box of Tragedy (Description = Nothing like the most beautiful stage of disaster accompanied by childish games. The user, upon using this skill, can manipulate children’s games to always win. After all, isn’t it amusing to watch the other side try to win when the script itself says they lose?)

’Bets are a childish game that all children play.’ Lya accepted the bet. Consequently, it became impossible for her to move me from this spot in the arena.

And what happens when an object at high speed collides with a wall that’s impossible to move? The object at high speed naturally takes the full impact.

When Lya collided with my leg, it wasn’t a clash between bodies. It was as if she had tried to use force to move something with infinite weight. Naturally, she was slammed into the ground, unable to muster the strength to lift this "immovable wall."

In short, it was Lya’s own force that hit her. Her body was instantly decelerated, absorbing the entire impact. This only shows just how strong Lya is.

However, just as the skill dictates, I will always win the children’s game. If the game dictates that I will not move from this spot, then I will not move for anything, no matter Lya’s strength.

"Tsk..." Lya recovers from her daze, spitting blood. Unfortunately, because of the children’s game of the bet, I can’t move. I can even lift one foot off the ground, but moving both became impossible.

’It seems I’m forced to obey what the game dictates...’ I’m not immune to the skill. If the game dictates something, my body obeys, just as the enemy is forced to obey.

"..." Lya looks around at the shocked stares of the crowd. She, who is apparently one of the strongest on the continent, and who spent three days proclaiming she would beat me down, just nearly got knocked out by a kick from an opponent who hasn’t even left her spot.

"It seems this is all the beast-men have to offer," I provoke her, trying to incite her into accepting more dangerous bets.

"You cow!" She kicks the ground, sending up a chunk of fractured rock and kicking it toward me. My threads shred the stone into strips, as I shape the material into various blades and hurl them at her, almost as if by telepathy.

She dodges the blades, but since the blades are puppets, they change direction and start chasing Lya, who runs around the arena’s perimeter. She then changes course, charging at me and leaping over me in a jump, but the blades simply veer around my side and continue the pursuit.

She stops running and begins punching the blades, imbuing Hikishin into her fists. She destroys the blades while kicking the ground, shattering the already fragmented arena, but the space where I stand remains intact.

I hear the grinding of hatred in her teeth when she realizes that since the start of the fight, I haven’t moved a single centimeter from the spot where I began.

"It seems in the end, the beast-men are just foolish animals who think with their muscles. This duel is truly pathetic. With that, let Act 2 begin," I provoke her with a smile.

As act two amplifies my magic and range so I can more easily mold the matter around us.

"I’ll break your horns and make you beg for your life," she threatens, letting her killing intent leak out for the first time. The muscles in her body violently expand, veins bulging grotesquely.

"Oh, really? I bet I can sever your arm so quickly during your attack that you won’t even notice," I say. I have to be careful with the bets. If I bet on something too extreme or ridiculous, she wouldn’t accept the bet because it would make no sense.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN? JUST TRY IT!!" She takes the bet again. The muscles in her legs contract, and she leaps so fast I lose sight of her.

When I realize it, she’s already behind me. I feel a slight pain in my head. It seems she struck my horn, but because of the first bet, the damage was almost nil.

"..." I rotate my head a perfect 180 degrees, being a puppet. Lya is clutching the stump of her torn-off arm. Her arm is literally on the ground. The crowd murmurs in shock, for the first time contemplating the defeat of their "champion," but Esther has a serious look aimed at me.

Esther moves her hands, mimicking a box with her fingers in a questioning tone toward me, having realized what I’m doing. I just nod, confirming the skill I’m using, and she smiles a smile that truly sends a chill down my spine.

Obviously, I’m fighting to win, and above all, to test just how powerful my skills are. Lya foolishly accepted to play the game, but without knowing that I dictate who wins and who loses the game.

"Ghmmm..." Lya looks at me with an expression mixed with hatred, pain, and she finally stops underestimating me. The muscles in her arm contract violently, stopping the bleeding as she rises, huffing at me.