ATLASBANAW02

MORMOND

Content Warnings: This story contains explicit and graphic content that may be disturbing to some readers. Warnings include, but are not limited to: graphic violence, gore, body horror, psychological torture, child death, desecration of corpses, and themes of systemic abuse and corruption. Reader discretion is strongly advised. In a world where the nobility's grace is a gilded mask for unspeakable cruelty, an orphaned boy named Mormond watches his world burn. After the brutal murder of his adoptive sister, Nini, at the hands of arrogant aristocrats, something inside him shatters and is remade into a monstrous new form. In his grief, he manifests a terrifying and unique power, becoming the "Puppeteer Calamity"—a vengeful artist who reanimates Nini's broken corpse, transforming her into a beautiful and deadly marionette of vengeance. Their bloody crusade begins in the slums of Marlock, but soon their stage expands to the decadent and corrupt empire of Omnia, a place where the elite literally consume the souls of slum children to preserve their own vitality. Hiding behind the flawless disguise of "Milos," an innocent and cherubic orphan, Mormond infiltrates the highest echelons of power. He orchestrates a masterful campaign of psychological warfare, not with brute force, but with whispers. He turns nobles against each other, drives them to madness, and forces them to author their own destruction, all while they believe him to be a harmless, lucky charm. Each conquest ends with a new, horrifying puppet added to his public collection—a gallery of corpses left as a chilling signature. His reign of terror does not go unnoticed. The empire's champion, Tifa—a swordmaster of holy light known as the Divine Guardian—is tasked with hunting the "Silver Shadow." She is his perfect opposite: a beacon of order and righteousness dedicated to protecting the very system Mormond seeks to annihilate. But as Mormond's web of control tightens around the empire's throat, an unforeseen complication arises. The ghost of Nini's true self begins to awaken within the puppet, her fragmented memories and prayers creating a glitch in his perfect control. This internal fracture becomes Mormond's greatest vulnerability. His desperate, violent attempts to maintain possession of his sister's soul expose him at the worst possible moment, forcing him from the shadows and into a direct, desperate conflict with Tifa and the full might of the empire. The Conductor's controlled performance descends into a chaotic war, where the price of his vengeance may be the very soul he fought so hard to keep. A novel by : ATLASBANAW