Lowly Ascent

In a grand temple worshiping the Onlooker, a priest conversed with the priestess.

"What do we do?"

Although the Church of Vale's city didn't have a Mist ghost leading its attack, a beast wave was still prepared for it, one bigger than the rest. It was the least Nihil could do.

The Priestess was stressed, she didn't know how to approach the growing issue and the Onlooker wasn't responding to her prayers.

'Did God throw us away?' Fear crept into her body for the first time in years.

The beasts rammed their bodies against the city walls. The defenses, and the secret artifacts dealing with them. However, soon the city's defenses would break.

The beast wave was just too large, hundreds of thousands crashed against the valley every minute. There was nothing mortals could do against such might.

"We can only hope God did not forsake us...that's all we can do." The Priestess tried to keep her faith, but times such as these were the hardest on believers.

...

Three bells resounded, the sound focusing on a knight in pitch-black armor.

So far, the Knight made no excessive movements, no retreats, and certainly no struggling actions. However, they had no choice in the current predicament for all of the above.

Knowing the danger in sound, the Knight strained itself as its armor around their feet departed and made footholds for its retreat.

"Oh? Its armor can be used like that?" The Grandmaster's interest rose as it saw the armored ghost retreat while giving up defense.

The Knight knew its armor could not survive the combined sonic attack of three maniacs holding bells. But to no avail, the sound moved faster than the Knight could escape, and the blast broke against their armored back.

Power in sound passed through the dark armor and made a ruckus on the internals of the Thrones' enemy. They all laughed seeing the result of their combined attack. 

Pieces of mist leaked from the Knights mouth before it sucked it right back in. The Knight stood there, staring down his enemies with a cold glare.

"What? The mysterious knight wants to fight back?! Not happening!" 

No reaction came from the Knight. Brandishing their weapon, he instead made a surprising move, shedding his armor.

The black nightmarish armor left its owner's side to reveal a pale white construct that looked almost otherworldly. It was the Ivory Puppet found in the Marble City's Control Tower, the one with the portal to the Dao Core.

Now, such a creature served Nihil, its soul fragment feeding on the power its master radiated, growing into a usable weapon with minimal emotion. Still, life bloomed within it, deep down, it was created for love, to be a king for a queen. Emotion was found within all life, albeit dulled for this specific servant of darkness.

The three Thrones didn't know what they were looking at.

"Is that a doll?"

"Who knows, just kill it."

"Both of you shut up, focus!"

It was too late, the fragments of armor had taken the time to latch onto the Puppet's enemies.

Each fragment chose its target, moving with a speed close to sound itself, finding a place along the body and latching on. The pieces broke through the mortals' flesh and carved a home for themselves, not letting go.

Trevor screamed in pain, "What the hell! What are these buggers doing!?"

The others had similar sentiments, but it became worse when they found the fragments had the force to still move, flying in different directions while still attached to their hosts.

"I feel like a damn slinky!" Trevor's Master yelped out as his arms and legs went in different directions.

"This bastard." The Grandmaster had eyes of fury, glaring at the Ivory Puppet which floated silently off in the distance. "Enough!"

The old man's scream rattled the environment, his movements were silent ripping his flesh. No sound was made, but tears formed as the self-mutilation continued.

Fragments left with their chunks of meat, however, they would then let go and reattach themselves. The action of the armor fragments sent the Grandmaster into a rage, an all but silent one.

Vibrations continued to pick up, the very air around the Grandmaster was sporadic and heated. Very quickly, the fragments found it too hard to attach to their target, their sturdiness broken under sound waves so strong they destroyed wherever it touched.

It was like an aura fell upon the Grandmaster, a veil that destroyed anything and everything. Seeing this, the Ivory Puppet frowned.

The white construct raised its sword and hummed. The humming was deep, it was like a call to the beyond.

Nihil, far away, felt one of his minions requesting his power.

'So the little guy got angry? Interesting.' He laughed, sucking up the remaining fingers of Shadow into his mouth. With a snap, a portion of his strength left him.

The Ivory Puppet didn't have to wait long. Like a flash of lightning, a dark ominous energy flew into the puppet's body, dyeing it black. Now, not only its armor was enhanced, but its very being was.

Wielding its rapier, dark red sword energy layered its blade.

"What's that?" Trevor was the first to notice the glint of red, but there was no time to warn his Grandmaster.

The Ivory being turned black moved with elegance, a swiftness not found anywhere else in the current world. This speed was what allowed it to win, what allowed it to evade the Grandmaster's reaction time. The result of this movement was an unblockable attack.

Sword energy ripped apart the veil of vibrations and gave way for the rapier to pierce the Grandmaster's throat. It took less than five seconds.

Blood dripped down the old man's nape as he clutched the sword in his hand. He attempted to bring up his palm for a final strike, but he had no strength left. The Grandmaster, the Throne of Bell, struggled in his final moments, his irises expanding at the sight of the once apathetic puppet now looking down on him with pure pleasure, a wide devilish grin painted across their face.

"B-Bastard..." Gurgled final words came from his mouth as the powerhouse's eyes glazed and entered the world of silence.

"Nooo!" Trevor was pulling out hairs in grief, his master holding him back from the demon.

Trevor's Master was the voice of reason. "We must retreat, we can't lose anymore! We must keep the city! Avoid the demon for now, it will run out of energy soon. Whatever it did to get this strong must be temporary, come!" He tugged at his disciple, he was speaking in circles, eyes glued to the one behind them.

The Ivory Puppet only glared at them, the corpse of the Grandmaster still on the other end of its sword. It did nothing to pursue, it simply continued to grin with great pleasure.