Inside the Theater of Domination, one sentence from Bella sent the puppets into an argument.
“Who was in charge of intelligence?! Benjamin, or Barbara?!”
The puppet closest to Bella desperately pounded on the wall, looking absolutely furious.
“I remember—it was Barbara!”
Another puppet shouted loudly. Bella looked at these puppets, which all looked practically identical, and honestly couldn’t tell who was who.
The puppet named Barbara was immediately pushed forward by the other four puppets, making sounds of displeasure:
“What does this have to do with me? I’m only in charge of gathering information. If there’s a problem with the information, you should blame the person who published it… Besides, isn’t there supposed to be a review process? After the review, wasn’t the final target decided by everyone together? However you calculate responsibility, it shouldn’t fall on me, right?”
“How can it not?! In the end, if you hadn’t believed whatever someone said, how could this performance have failed so badly?! You ****”
The argument between the puppets quickly escalated into personal attacks, then into a brawl, while another group of puppets fanned the flames. Only Bella was left, still standing in place, staring dumbfounded at everything happening in front of her.
“Um… what am I supposed to do next again?”
The entire Theater of Domination became incredibly lively as the puppets shifted blame onto each other. It wasn’t until one puppet noticed Bella wandering around aimlessly that it finally spoke up:
“Um… hey, even if we got the wrong person, couldn’t we still recruit her to join us?”
“Oh right! Why didn’t I think of that?”
The puppet slapped its forehead and belatedly came over to Bella’s side.
“Miss, sorry to keep you waiting. Even though we got the wrong person, since you’re already here, might we invite you to take part in this performance?”
Bella recalled what Sirin had told her and slowly nodded. After that, she felt a bit uncomfortable all over.
“Even if you’re not the right person, you are indeed Bella, and you were born in Siberia in 2000, correct?”
Bella was instantly stunned.
“Your expression already gives it away. So then, may I ask—who exactly are you…?”
“Me? I’m a Judgment-class Honkai Beast born during the Second Eruption because of Her Majesty the Queen.”
As Bella spoke, she directly revealed her true form as Benares.
“Ah!”
Because Bella’s size suddenly increased, she merely shifted slightly, and hundreds of puppets around her were sent flying.
“What?! She… she’s a Judgment-class Honkai Beast born during the Second Eruption because of the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin?! We…”
“A Judgment-class Honkai Beast—isn’t that great? Don’t tell me you’re scared?”
“Who’s scared?!”
A puppet climbed up from the ground and put its hand on its head. It was clear it was thinking at high speed—if it had a brain, that is.
“Um… Miss Bella, could you change back? If the stage gets damaged, the performance can’t continue.”
Of course, Bella switching forms couldn’t actually damage the Theater of Domination. It was just that in her Honkai Beast form, Bella’s size was far too massive compared to the puppets, putting too much visual pressure on them. They simply felt they wouldn’t have the upper hand in a conversation like this.
“Oh, okay.”
After Bella returned to her human girl form, the puppet immediately scurried over to her side.
“Bella… what is your dream?”
“My dream… my dream is for Her Majesty the Queen to be happy every day.”
The puppet thought for a moment, then began:
“Making Sirin happy every day? But have you ever considered—does Sirin want you to be happy?”
Bella scratched her head:
“I haven’t thought about it, but… that’s not important anyway, is it?”
“How is it not important?! Do you really want to spend your whole life by her side, as her servant?!”
Hearing that, Bella’s eyes immediately lit up:
“If I could stay by Her Majesty the Queen’s side for my whole life… that would be… amazing!”
“That’s not the point! The point is being a servant for life—a servant!”
Bella blinked:
“Being Her Majesty the Queen’s servant for life—isn’t that only natural?”
“Ah… what? No… haven’t you ever thought that one day you could break away from Sirin and become independent?”
Bella looked confused:
“Why would I? Is there something bad about staying by Her Majesty the Queen’s side?”
“Having someone boss you around and order you about every single day—doesn’t that bother you?”
“If Her Majesty the Queen has something for me to do every day, then… then I think that day would be very happy for me.”
“Huh? No, you…”
With such a severe lack of information, the puppet tried to break Bella down the same way it did with others—and ended up completely outplaying itself.
But the puppet quickly adjusted its mindset, upgraded its old approach, and achieved a transformative upgrade in its breakdown techniques.
“Yes, you could stay by Sirin’s side before because she needed you. Once you have no more use value, she’ll abandon you immediately!”
“She wouldn’t! Her Majesty the Queen would never abandon me!”
Seeing Bella’s emotions clearly waver, the puppet was overjoyed and immediately pressed the attack:
“Oh yeah? Then why did she send only you to Australia this time? Isn’t it just an excuse to drive you away from her side?”
Bella really couldn’t understand why the puppet had suddenly gotten so excited.
“Oh right, Her Majesty the Queen told me that at times like this, I should say…”
“What’s wrong? Did I hit the mark? Can’t refute it?”
The puppet wore a mocking expression, but what greeted it was Bella’s healthy, sunny smile.
“No, the reason I came to Australia this time was to provide coordinates for Her Majesty the Queen. I’ve been still for so long—she should have already locked onto the location of the Theater of Domination by now.”
“Oh right, Her Majesty the Queen said that after pinpointing the Theater of Domination’s location, Miss Enoxia would come over too.”
“What?!”
The mocking look on the puppet’s face vanished instantly, replaced by fear from the bottom of its heart.
