Lord Of Puppets

"V-vampire?! W-what the hell are you-"

The golemancer tried to argue with Thauma, but in response the golem just lifted the man up and instantly thrusted one of it’s knifes into the man’s hand, causing the mage to scream in pain.

{"You should know that I’m not easily fooled by now."} – written Thauma with its free hands.

{"I know what vampires are and I know these black knights were vampires."}

{"And all of the mages that used golems, were vampires as well."}

{"You are one of the people that used golems."}

{"So that means you are vampire."} – written Thauma as it then pulled out the knife and threw the man down on the floor.

{"I won’t be asking again and again."}

{"Answer. Now."}

"OKAY! OKAY! I’M VAMPIRE! YOU WERE RIGHT!" – shouted the panicking man.

"..."

{"Prove it."} – written Thauma, which instantly confused the mage.

{"The vampires I’ve checked were somewhat able to hide their appearance."}

{"And I’ve found a weird device in their napes."}

{"Is that the device you use to hide?"}

{"Show it to me."}

{"Or I will have to rip out your nape."}

"!"

"I GET IT! I GET IT!" – replied the panicking mage as he grabbed his nape with his palm.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"!"

"I-it takes time!" – replied the panicking mage as the golem started raising it’s knifes again.

Thauma waited with the blade in its hands as the mage continues holding on to his nape.... And after set amount of time had passed, the man’s appearance started changing.

The color of his skin started being drained while his pupils started changing form, becoming more animalistic, while also changing color.

His fangs inside of his mouth also changed form and size, becoming far more feral in nature.

"..."

(Vampire.) – thought Thauma as the transformation ended and the man’s appearance completely changed.

(So that device was really behind the transformation.)

{"What is this device? How is it made? Where did you get it?"}

"..."

"Em...." – the vampire looked extremely nervous, to the point of pure panic.

"I...I-I.... I don’t know?" – replied the vampire... Which annoyed the golem as it started getting ready to stab the man.

"I SWEAR! NOBODY KNOWS! NO MATTER WHO YOU ASK, NON-OF US WAS TOLD ANYTHING!" – replied the man in panic as he backed away and hit the wall behind him.

"They told us how to use them, but we were never told what they really were!"

"We only knows how to use them!"

"..."

{"How can I trust you? You use something, yet you don’t know what it is?"} – written Thauma, before then grabbing the fleeing vampire uninjured hand and holding it against the wall as the knife was positioned right in front of the man’s palm.

{"I know about vampires’ regenerative ability. I know that they can also drink blood to boost it further."}

{"That means you are far more durable."}

{"And I have enough time to torture the information out of you."} – written Thauma as it stabbed the man’s arm, causing the vampire to scream once again.

"YOU FUCKING PSHYCHO! I’M FUCKING TELLING YOU! I DON’T KNOW!" – shouted the mage as Thauma twisted around the knife, causing the man to scream even more in pain.

"FUCK! PLEASE! STOP! I REALLY DON’T KNOW! I REALLY DON’T FUCKING KNOW!" – shouted the man as the golem suddenly stopped twisting the knife.... And instead grabbed one of the man’s fingers.

"W-wait... What are you-?!"

{"Making you speak."}

{"If you don’t talk now, I will snap every single of your fingers and rip out your nails."}

{"I will use your own regenerative power against you."}

{"I will force feed you potions until you heal."} – written Thauma as the vampire’s eyes started getting filled with pure dread as it continues reading what the golem has written.

"I-I’m not lying! I-"

Thauma snapped the man’s finger.

"AAAAAAAAA!"

"!"

"WAIT! WAIT!" – shouted the man as he saw the golem reaching for the broken finger’s nail.

"I WILL TALK! I WILL TALK YOU PSHYCHO!"

"..." – Thauma let the man’s hand go in order for the vampire to catch some breath.

"Fuck...."

"..."

"We.... Fuck.... We were implanted with these things."

"It wasn’t a matter of choice."

"Every vampire that is part of the Crow Watchers was forced to take the operation to add these things to our bodies..."

"I swear to gods! I don’t know what the hell that thing is! They don’t tell us since they don’t want to run our mouths!"

"They just told us that we have to use these devices whenever or not we are out in the public, to hide that we are vampires!"

"..."

{"How exactly does it work?"}

"I.... It is magic based.... We put some mana in specific way as well as slow down our blood flow a bit... Which causes the device to activate..."

"It causes our bodies to change... To pretend to pretend to be normal.... However, they told us that if we got too excited and if our blood flow is too fast for too long, it will cause the transformation to stop working."

"Not only that, but whenever we feast, we need to turn off the device... Some people that did drink a blood caused the device to somewhat... Fail? I don’t know.... It caused them to revert back."

"There is also the fact that if we lose too much blood or suffer too much damage that the body can’t work perfectly, it will cause the transformation to end up also being reverted."

"That is all.... I swear!"

"They are making sure we don’t know much beside how the device works on the basic levels! On how to use it and what not to do!"

"That is all they ever told us!"

"Even captain of the unit and the vice-captain don’t knew anything!"

"...."

{"Then who made you have those devices? Is it the duke? Emperor? Or maybe neither of those?"}

{"And why are there vampires in the empire?"}

{"Vampires are monsters like me. They are beings which are hunted down."}

{"So why are you not hunted down?"}

"I....I.... I don’t know...."

"I’m just a low-ranking vampire! A nobody!"

"I just fallow orders!"

"..."

Thauma grabbed the man’s hand once again.

"MOWUN!" – shouted the panicking mage.

"MOVUN VON VORIN!"

"He is the one that vampires’ fallows, which works for the Crow Watchers!"

"THAT IS ALL I KNOW!"

"He is the one calling the shots!"

"..."

{"And what are his orders? Why did you target me? Are you working for "Y"?"}

("Y"?! Who the hell is he talking about?!) – thought confused vampire.

"..."

"Our.... Our orders were to capture the dungeon alongside the dungeon master.... That is all.... We were told to not let any golem be left standing or eliminate anybody who got close to the forest without permission."

"That is all we were told!"

"..."

<<Honestly... That man was full of fear.>>

<<But it didn’t looked like he was fully scared of me.... No... If anything, he seems to be also scared of something else.>>

<<I did ended up ripping out few of his nails and breaking some of his fingers when he didn’t wanted to talk and it did worked out the wonders.>>

<<Anyway, here is what I’ve found.>>

<<First thing first.>>

<<It seems these people are working for "Y"... Although, that man says he doesn’t know "Y".... Is "Y" a fake name used by that man called Movun Von Vorin? Or maybe they are two different people?>>

<<Either way.... They want to enslave me no matter what.>>

<<And that is the problem.... Since apparently this army of Crow Watchers wasn’t the strongest.>>

<<If anything, they were told to pretend to be second strongest in order to "Fake the image".... I don’t know why, nor that man knows why by the looks of things.>>

<<According to this man, apparently there is a different group of Crow Watchers, which is far superior... And there is also the main army of Crow Watchers.>>

<<This won’t be easy... And I’ve already barely had won the previous war against these Crow Watchers.>>

<<If they didn’t end up being caught in my trap... Then during their next attack, they may end up wiping out of my golems.>>

<<But now I’m finding out there are two armies that far more dangerous than them?!>>

<<...Not only that.... It seems that Movun person maybe a vampire noble.... Based on the way the vampire said it... God dammit... A noble?!>>

<<A freaking vampire noble?!>>

<<Why the hell is this pattern repeating itself nonstop!?>>

<<Whenever I get stronger, some bastard that is way stronger than me suddenly appears from who knows where and wants to get me!>>

<<...>>

<<Although... Isn’t this really the pattern for dungeons?>>

<<According to the information I have, the adventurer guild doesn’t allow low rank adventurers to go the dungeon, if there is high chance that they will just die and make the dungeon growth.... That means they know what they are doing and making sure I won’t be able to grow by their lack of judgment.... This isn’t good.>>

<<...>>

<<Speaking about adventurers.... I’ve found something.>>

<<Apparently these people obtained some information about me from the adventurer guild.>>