Ⅱ
Count Bette had handled far too many hearts.
He was intimately familiar with how they felt.
Little Lion's heart, for instance, was strong and powerful.
But...
An unexpected Mystic Art had been branded onto Little Lion's heart-
Puppet Dance!
It was a unique Mystic Art that the Grand Alchemist Geppetto had spent years developing to bring his puppet Pinocchio to life.
By all rights, once that mad Grand Alchemist had been sent to the Stake, this Mystic Art should have been lost forever.
"It seems the Golden Lion Family inherited even more from the Church than I imagined!"
Count Bette did not crush the heart within his reach.
Because that heart had turned to wood.
Not just the heart-Little Lion's entire body had turned to wood.
Or, more precisely...
A puppet!
Crack!
His waist rotated, defying the limits of human anatomy. The puppet Little Lion wrapped his arms around Count Bette behind him, and wooden spikes extended from his wooden arms, one after another, piercing the Count's body.
Pfft, pfft, pfft!
Amid the sounds of flesh being pierced, Count Bette's expression had already returned to its usual composure.
Even though every one of those wooden spikes carried a potent poison capable of killing an Ascendant.
This poison came from witches. It was called "Dove's Death Poison."
To create it, a witch who was a mother had to witness her beloved child's brutal murder until her soul became utterly distorted. Then four daggers fashioned from her own mother's arms and legs had to be driven into the witch's limbs to drain her blood. Finally, her own mother's skull had to be used to smash the witch's head. Only with this foundation could a potent poison that corrupted souls be made.
That was why it posed a lethal threat even to