9..17.0........13

"THE PUPPETEER HAS DIED BY ITS OWN PUPPET."

Aria glanced at the open book as the ink was fading from the page. The looks on everyone's faces were still the same: horrified and anxious, and the feeling of helplessness. Glancing at the body, tears flowed like a slow water current—weak but lasting.

With a thud, a sudden voice came from the direction the gazes shifted to—the direction of the sound. It came from the book that was now closed, and the blood covering it had dispelled, flowing onto the ground.

Is this a five-star artifact? It can't be less than that. What was Rin doing with a five-star artifact? As thoughts filled Aria's head, she felt the urge to tell everyone to escape—or even escape herself—but she felt as if she couldn't act as she wished.

This is the interference from the artifact, Aria thought as her heartbeats quickened at an abnormal pace.

A cruel chuckle slipped past the air, then it switched between tones until it landed on a clown-like laugh. It was full of joy—so much so that it would irritate people.

As soon as the clown-like laughs entered the ears of the maids standing, they fell to the ground with blood flowing out of their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears. Aria circulated mana flow in her body to stop the artifact's power. It worked, but she still felt the pain. The pain was sharp and felt like having your brain eaten by a vicious animal.

....

In the living room, there were three people sitting; their faces were dull. Rui was one of them; his face wore a more scared look than anyone else's. He didn't know what he could do to help or what to even do in such a situation.

A sudden gust flowed from the direction of the stairs. The laughter came with the wind, and as soon as it was heard, everyone fell to the ground. Rui's intuition told him to circulate mana throughout his head.

"Ahh," Rui screamed in pain while holding his head. What is this? Is someone attacking, or is it possibly an artifact?

Rui knew a little about artifacts. Their origin was unknown. They always had a positive effect, even with their downsides—but some were known to be disastrous items that could cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

Almost everyone in the manor was dead except for Rui, Aria, and the maid and butler who had gone out to call for help.

Footsteps came from the hall upstairs. Rui stood up to glance—it was Aria, walking slowly toward the stairs. When she started walking down, she tripped and fell. Rui, who was already standing in a daze, walked toward her to ask what had happened. He saw her in a similar state to himself but feeling more scared and anxious, with tears flowing.

"Lady Aria, what happened?" asked Rui, with his eyes looking around as if searching for something.

Aria glanced at him and told him the truth. "Rin was killed by a powerful artifact, and there is a voice that will kill anyone who is not protected by magic." Aria didn't hold back because Rui was also exposed to the danger of the strange artifact.

Aria remembered something. Rin told her about the book. Rin said that the book was about undocumented history and that she was reading it normally. What is the power of this artifact? Aria couldn't help but wonder what actions to take. She didn't know if the artifact would affect the people outside in the streets or in their homes.

As much as fear had engulfed Rui, excitement and curiosity also had their effect. He said in a low voice, "I will go check on the artifact." As much as he knew it was dangerous, the artifact already had control over them. The sensation in their heads didn't stop, nor weaken or strengthen.

Walking up the stairs while ignoring Aria's instruction not to do so, he readied a spell to escape. It was called "Wind Flow." It allowed for a long dash or jump. He could easily exit the room by jumping from the window or door. He navigated in the direction of the office by the sound that was flowing. He didn't know the layout of the manor because he had just arrived and only knew the location of necessary rooms he would use.

Walking down the stairs, he felt a sudden chill, and the voice was gradually weakening. Till he arrived at the room, the voice was completely gone. He glanced at the ground, then turned his head and barfed. It was more gruesome than he had imagined in his head. He looked around and saw nothing out of place except the book. He covered his nose and tried to avoid eye contact with the corpses. As he got closer to the book, his instincts and mind told him to avoid it, but he was charmed by the artifact. He picked it up and glanced at it. It had a normal look and feel—mistakable for a regular book. The only difference was it had a strange vibe. He gulped his saliva and opened it. The first page said, "Welcome Rui," then the ink dispersed and formed a new word.

Rui looked at it, unable to determine what was happening. He saw the text changing. This was indeed a very powerful artifact. "Form a de... al... with me, and I will spare them." He wanted to help but didn't know what the deal was—or if he could trust the artifact. More than that, the artifact had a consciousness. He spoke out and asked, "What is the deal you want to make?" The ink again dispersed and began forming again.

He waited until the words were completely written, and it read out: "Sacrifice something from your body for an answer, and the better it is, the better the answer."

"Why would I sacrifice a body part?" Rui answered in a way to not sound scared or pressured.

The ink then reformed again, and this time it read: "I have the answer you want and will guide you to the path you choose."

The puzzlement and confusion had vanished, but he was still being careful. It was dangerous to choose wildly. Should I sacrifice something? But if I do, what do I sacrifice? An arm would be too great; an internal organ would cause problems for the body.

He took some time to think about what to sacrifice. He intended to sacrifice something important, as it would get him the full answer. Then he settled on his choice and looked at the book with determination in his eyes. "I sacrifice my left eye for the exchange."

As words of the deal exited Rui's mouth, the laughing sound from before had returned—but this time, it didn't cause pain. Instead, a faint speaking voice could be heard repeating the same sentence. It was changing tones—from a man to a woman to a child. From his hearing, the voice had said, "Write your name with blood on the page titled 9..17.0.....13." Then the book flipped through its pages and stopped.

What are these numbers? What do they mean? And why this set of numbers—and why are there different amounts of dots between the numbers? He had agreed to the deal and couldn't go back on his word, fearing the consequences. He then conjured a small but lethal gust of wind and cut his thumb open. As blood flowed over the thumb, he went to write on the page that the book had flipped to. It was indeed titled 9..17.0.....13.

He began writing his name and finished quickly. The writing wasn't the best in appearance, but it didn't need to be. It only had to be his name—written in his blood.

The room was then shrouded in wind. It was the same wind that carried the voice. He felt as though the room had been cut off from any outside interference. Then he dropped to the ground; he didn't know the cause. The book dropped next to his face; he could see what he had written with his left eye. He felt more fear than before. He felt as if the actions he wanted to take weren't just being disrupted but were being forced.

Blood that had yet to dry began moving intensely across the page. The page was now dyed crimson, and then a human-like hand exited from the crimson-dyed page. It was thinner and paler than a human's, and the hand had only four fingers. Lying there anxiously, he felt as if he wasn't able to think—but thoughts were flowing to him. It was the same as what had happened to his movement. The hand slowly crept closer and closer to his face, then suddenly dashed when it was less than five centimeters away.

A sizzling sound came from the skin it had touched. The hand vigorously opened his eyelids with two of its fingers. Rui wanted to cry and scream but couldn't. He felt the hand surrounding his eyeball, touching it from all directions inside—and then the hand pulled back and retreated into the page covered in crimson. An eyeball fell.

Rui felt his vision gone from the left side of his face, as well as a deep emptiness. He started to regain control over his mental and physical state. He supported himself with his hand to sit and looked at the book. There was an eye lying there—as well as nerves, blood vessels, and more—still connected to it. Then the eye started merging with the page, along with the blood covering it, until there was nothing suspicious on the book. It looked completely normal. Then sounds started to appear again.

"I am an artifact named 'The Unknown.' As for our deal, I want you to accomplish something those before you couldn't," the voice said calmly. And then again, "Do you wish to know about everything? If so, touch the page titled 'The Puppeteer.'"

The Puppeteer... Is it someone else's contract? Or the info I want? It doesn't matter what it shows—I want to know it all.

He then stared at the artifact as it flipped through the pages until it arrived at the one it had mentioned. He extended his arms to touch it, but before his hand landed, the scenery around him had changed—from the abandoned altar to a cave-like environment.

Rui looked around in confusion before hearing, "I took us to a more suitable place." What is more suitable about this? It looks more like a ritual for a devil. He then looked around and saw nothing else except himself, the book, the altar, and a crack with traces of sunlight flowing. Rui heaved a sigh of relief and thought, So there is a way out. Even if there isn't, it could teleport us again. Although he thought about the book transporting them again outside, he didn't know the scale of its power, so he didn't speak out loud. He then extended his hand all the way and touched it.

The scenes in his eyes changed from one to another, as well as information being processed into his mind.

....

A lot of time had passed. Although he didn't know how much, he felt as if he had been asleep for days. The things he saw were memories of the person who interacted with the book. Although they didn't make a contract, they were absorbed by it.

The memories he had received were from someone he had met—it was from his soon-to-be teacher, Rin.

"These are masters memories"