30 Puppet Master

Jake returned to the station, relieved to have finished cooking and presenting his dish. His heart felt light, and the stress of presenting seemed almost trivial in comparison.

He waited anxiously for the rest of the contestants to finish, who had seemed to lose all hope. Naturally, they were all rejected by the princess' unduly limited food palette, which actually made it seem as if she would eat anything. Then again, some were better than others.

"So-sorry, I don't like carrots, though I can't just barely consume a raw one," she continued. "No, no, I'm sorry..."

Half of the contestants had already completely given up. Some simply ate their own dish. Others just left the scene entirely.

"Uurrhghgh..." she barfed at the last chef's dish. He looked at her with sadness, then turned away and brought his plate back to his station.

Recovering from her excruciating experience after tasting that dish—which wasn't even bad—she stood back up, beginning another speech.

"Good job everyone, you are all so amazing! We'll let you know the results soon enough!" She waved them goodbye as they walked out into the street, lost in thought about how badly they did. Everyone knew who had already won, and most didn't even want to stay for the grand reveal of the winner.

It was down to Josiah and Jake now; only two people remained. Jake stepped forward before he could think twice. "So, you're still here."

"How... How did you do that?!" he cried. "I've been doing so much research on what she likes... and yet... you?"

"Research?"

"You... You don't understand how much I've crept on her through from a distance! I'll have you know my eyesight is better that of eagles."

"A stalker, huh...?"

Jake's arctic-white hair fell over his eyes slightly, causing him to brush it aside, revealing a look of disgust. He took a deep breath through his nose while slowly closing his hands together. This was it. This was his moment to absolutely annihilate the ego-talker who had been irritating him for the past hours.

He pinned him against the tree, staring directly into his eyes from a hair's breadth away. "How does it feel to have your cozy throne usurped? Do you realize all that time spent obsessing over her and trying to woo her has all come to naught?"

"You'll... Get off me!"

Josiah conjured a black, devilish aura around his fists as he lifted up an arm, pushing him back by force. His white teeth flashed under his mouth, which grew wide open as if he were about to roar at Jake.

"This aura? There is something off about it," Jake mumbled, taking a fighting pose. He couldn't let his guard down in a situation like this, especially around an unknown power. As far as he knew, the original game had no aura like this; it must be a new addition. And considering the developer's love for power creeping, a direct hit could be detrimental.

Josiah swung with both arms, both coming from one side; Jake parried them away easily using his forearm combined with the Poison Nova's strength buff before counterattacking. The man was incredibly fast—and powerful—for someone who didn't have any experience in martial arts whatsoever.

His techniques were completely off; even Jake could tell after observing the way others fought. How did he learn such a potent skill if he hadn't practiced? Just how did he obtain it?

"What's wrong?" Josiah smirked. "You seem surprised."

"Heh, I just didn't expect you to be that kind of person. Tell me, where did you learn that black demonic aura?" he asked while keeping his guard high. The best idea was probably to buy enough time for guards to alert the king or another important person. He couldn't let a normal guard be caught up in Josiah's attacks; they would die instantly.

Fortunately, they seemed to understand as they drew their sword while keeping a distance. They wanted nothing more than to avoid getting caught up in this fight, so Jake continued talking as he evaded the oncoming blows, hoping to gain some advantage over the red-haired man.

"Hey, you! Quick, go notice the authorities about what's going on!" Jake blurted.

The guard looked at him weirdly, then slashed his sword against him. Jake barely deflected it with his palm and hopped back, landing on his back. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Don't resist. You're under arrest!"

Jake glanced around. There were seven... no eight guards, all pointing their weapons at him. "Do they think I'm the one who attacked Josiah?" he pondered.

Josiah raised his arm again—but instead of swinging it like before, he extended both of the fist's aura into two separate shapes resembling claws before punching them straight forward, aiming for Jake's head.

He managed to dodge them by jumping aside—he'd only been lucky until now, but it was not yet time to give in. He tried to strike a few times in quick succession; however, every single attempt was blocked with ease by the bizarre aura.

"Fuck, I'm getting the hell out of here before I die. Whether I'll become a criminal or not for escaping, so be it; I'm already a sin or whatever," he muttered, dashing past the guards.

"Woah! Where do you think you're going?" they yelled, blocking his path. He attempted to turn back, dodging their blades as he weaved between their strikes. He turned down another path, attempting to shake his pursuers off while maintaining his momentum.

Finally, when they finally caught up to him after catching up to him after chasing him through half of the city's streets, he decided there wasn't any other option left: running full force right at them. They had little choice but to jump away to avoid him falling over and injuring themselves on the sharp edges of the cobblestone road.

Jake jumped in place, trying to stop himself from being blown backward, then took several steps back before throwing an elbow and spinning around to attack a guard that snuck past the others.

"Guh..." The guard stumbled backward, clutching his nose, which appeared broken instantly. Jake spun around once again, evading the second guard with a swift kick and turning toward his last opponent.

"My bad, my bad. Didn't mean to hit you that hard!"

"Now you've done it. We have every right to attack you now!"

"What? You've been doing that all the time!" Jake shouted, now aware that something was strange about this whole thing. He realized they must be working under orders—from Josiah—and were all forced into following along like puppets. "Sucks to say I've lost my princess, but to be honest, I've been craving for some action!"