The Black Knight had appeared earlier, but the presence of a Bizarro Sorcerer from the Seer Pathway lurking in the theater was something Don hadn't anticipated.
"A member of the Secret Order? Or a rogue Demigod?"
As the Paper figurine took the hit, Don's figure lagged slightly behind the two Demigods.
At the same time, he felt an intrusion—an attempt to manipulate his Spirit Body Threads.
This wasn't the influence of the sealed artifact. No, this was the sudden interference of the Bizarro Sorcerer, trying to turn him into a marionette.
Fortunately, the lingering Law of Death imposed by the theater still weakened the control over Spirit Body Threads. Even at such close proximity, the Bizarro Sorcerer's efforts were significantly hampered, requiring considerable time to fully puppetize him.
Moreover, Don himself was a Marionettist. He could actively resist, wrestling for control of his own threads to slow the process.
For now, the Bizarro Sorcerer's focus wasn't entirely on Don.
His gaze shifted to the Black Knight.
With a silent air cannon, the Black Knight was struck head-on by a devastating blast of compressed air, forcing the towering figure to stagger under the impact.
Seizing the moment, Don retrieved a palm-sized book from his inventory.
"I came, I saw, I record."
Pages flipped as spirituality surged into the aged, yellowed paper. Mystical patterns and archaic symbols swirled across its surface. Don aimed the book at the Black Knight, the devout hound of the True Creator.
"Banishment!"
A phantom gate, woven from countless esoteric sigils, yawned open behind the Black Knight. The tremendous suction, combined with another air bullet from the Bizarro Sorcerer, trapped the knight in a pincer attack.
The Black Knight was swallowed by the gate—exiled to a pocket dimension within the theater itself.
At the demigod level, banishment couldn't forcibly eject a target beyond the theater's boundaries unless specifically designed to do so.
Two demigods: one a Bizarro Sorcerer (likely armed with mystical items but stripped of marionettes by the Law of Death), the other a Black Knight (a soul-harvesting zealot of the True Creator).
The choice of who to prioritize was obvious.
But now, with the Black Knight gone, the Bizarro Sorcerer's next target was clear—Don himself.
The middle-aged gentleman's gaze locked onto him once more.
With an almost polite curiosity, the man extended a hand as if to help Don up. But the sudden intensified tug on his Spirit Body Threads betrayed his true intent.
This wasn't camaraderie—it was a ploy to seize Don's mystical items!
While resisting the manipulation, Don considered ending the Law of Death prematurely. Doing so would allow the theater's own Spirit Body Threads to reactivate.
The theater didn't seem capable of directly converting people into marionettes—certain conditions had to be met. Even this close to the core, marionettes might still swarm them.
But if the breach in the theater fully repaired itself, the reactivated marionettes would undoubtedly attack the two closest intruders—Don and the Bizarro Sorcerer.
Just as Don prepared to act, the Shadow Magician's control over his threads abruptly ceased.
The man's expression flickered with surprise. His attention snapped toward the closing breach in the theater's wall, where a distant figure seemed to be watching.
For a split second, the Bizarro Sorcerer forgot how to manipulate Spirit Body Threads entirely.
Don didn't waste the opening.
A short staff embedded with an emerald materialized in his hand—the Staff of Life, crafted from a Druid's Beyonder characteristic.
With an infusion of spirituality, it could animate plants into sentient, mystical entities!
He swung the staff toward the Bizarro Sorcerer.
Vines erupted from the man's body, lush and emerald-green, cocooning him in a verdant prison—
Only for the tangled mass to collapse inward, grasping at empty air.
A Paper Figurine fluttered to the ground.
At the same time, Don heard the whistle of an air bullet.
A Sequence 5 facing a Sequence 4 was inherently disadvantaged in a direct confrontation.
Under normal circumstances, unless the lower-sequence fighter possessed exceptionally powerful mystical items, escaping—let alone defeating—a demigod was nearly impossible.
The air bullet struck another Paper Figurine as Don teleported away once more.
All of this—the miracle's explosion, the breach's appearance, the activation of the Law of Death, the severing of marionettes' threads, the clash of demigods—unfolded in mere seconds.
The amplified Law of Death was fading. The breach was sealing. The suppressed miracle's power would soon reassert itself.
Every second counted now.
"System—"
Before Don could issue a command, two figures materialized beside him.
The black-armored knight stepped forward as a shield, while Olsen appeared abruptly at his side, clutching a ghostly tome brimming with arcane sigils.
"I came! I saw! I record!"
Pages flipped wildly as spirituality flooded the book, settling on a single entry.
Olsen unleashed the recorded demigod-tier ability.
"Banishment!"
The first banishment had come from Olsen's mystical book, targeting the Black Knight.
This was the second—aimed squarely at the Bizarro Sorcerer!
A phantom gate yawned open behind the gentleman, its gravitational pull dragging him inexorably backward.
If successful, the Bizarro Sorcerer would be locked away long enough to buy them time.
Yet the man remained eerily calm.
His eyes settled on a single point—the Paper Figurine entangled in vines near Owen's feet.
Hidden in the shadows behind it lay a single gold coin.
A shadow flickered across the coin's surface—one Don hadn't noticed until now.
Threads. Countless Spirit Body Threads, all linking back to the Bizarro Sorcerer
"Shit—!"
Don's shout was a blade of panic. "Owen!!"
The middle-aged gentleman smiled.
And as he did, the phantom gate's pull reached its zenith.
(End of Chapter)