Harlow the blacksmith lived in the basement of a burnt-out forge, behind a false wall that only Maya knew how to find.

He was an old man with arms like cables and a face like a relief map of every fight he had ever lost. When Maya knocked on the wall — three knocks, pause, two knocks — he opened it with a crossbow in his hand and did not lower it until he had looked at Leo for a full minute.

"He's a farmer," Maya said.

"He's not a farmer." Harlow's eyes were sharp despite his age. "Farmers don't walk into Iron Gate with a sword and a thief for company. Come in, both of you. Before the Lord's eyes find you."

The basement was a warren of tunnels, old weapons, and oil lamps that cast long shadows. Harlow led them to a table, poured two cups of something that smelled like medicine, and sat down.

"Speak," he said. "Fast. The Lord's puppets patrol every street. We don't have long."

"Who is the Lord?" Leo asked.

Harlow's jaw tightened. "He calls himself Vex. Once he was a player — like you, I think. A man who entered this world with nothing. But he found a way to do what no one else could. He learned to take experience directly from other people. Not from monsters. From *people*."

"Like me," Leo said quietly.

Harlow's eyes snapped to him. "What did you say?"

"Nothing. Go on."

"Vex fed on travelers for years. Then he found the city. A hundred thousand people, all with experience, all with levels, all *trapped*." Harlow's voice was bitter. "He built his castle in the center and started draining us. Not all at once — that would kill us. Just enough to keep us alive, keep us moving, keep us useful. We became his batteries. His puppets. His... collection."

"How close is he to Level 100?"

"Close. Every day he feeds, he grows." Harlow leaned forward. "And you — you have the same hunger he had. I can see it in your eyes. You're a Devourer, aren't you? One of the rare ones."

Leo went very still. "How do you know about Devourers?"

"Because I made weapons for one, forty years ago." Harlow reached under the table and pulled out a sheathed blade — dark steel, unadorned, with a grip worn smooth by hands long gone. "This was forged for a man who could eat the strength of anything he killed. He took this city back from a tyrant once, long before Vex. And he told me, before he died: the Devourer's power is a blade. It can cut the tyrant down. Or it can cut you open from the inside."

Harlow pushed the sword across the table.

"It's yours, if you want it."

Leo touched the grip. The metal was cold, and something in it seemed to recognize him.

**【Item Acquired: Devourer's Fang (Rare).】**
**【A blade forged for the hunger. When wielded by a Devourer, strikes ignore 20% of a foe's defense.**】

"What's the catch?" Leo asked.

"The catch is that Vex will feel it the moment you draw it in his city. It's a Devourer weapon — he'll know another of his kind is here." Harlow's eyes were grim. "You have one chance. One strike. When you draw that sword, the Lord will come for you. Make sure you're ready."

---

They planned through the night.

Harlow knew the castle: a fortress in the city's heart, built over the old royal hall. Vex lived in the highest tower, surrounded by his elite puppets — former champions he had drained and turned.

"There's a servant's gate in the east wall," Harlow said. "It's never guarded, because the puppets don't eat or sleep and nothing alive goes in or out. But a man who doesn't want to be seen..." He drew a rough map in the dirt. "The gate leads to the kitchens, then to the great hall, then up the tower stairs. Three hundred steps. No guards until the top."

"Seems too easy," Maya said.

"It is. Vex wants intruders. He likes the sport. He'll let you climb all the way up, just to watch you try." Harlow looked at Leo. "The question is: can you take him before he takes you?"

"What's his weakness?"

"He's a Devourer, like you. His body is strong, but his power comes from what he's eaten. If you can cut him off from his puppets — destroy his connection — he'll weaken. The puppets are his strength. They're also his anchor."

Leo nodded slowly. "Destroy the connection. Got it."

"And Leo." Harlow's voice dropped. "Vex was a Level 1 nobody, just like you. He started with nothing. He ate his way to the top. If you fight him the way he fights — hungry, desperate, no rules — you might have a chance. If you fight him like a hero..." The old smith shook his head. "You'll die like one."

Leo looked at the sword in his hands.

"I'm not a hero," he said. "I'm a farmer who's very good with a hoe."

Harlow laughed — a dry, rusty sound. "Then maybe you'll live."

---

At midnight, they slipped through the servant's gate.

The castle was dark and silent. The kitchens were full of puppets standing motionless by cold stoves, their eyes open, their hands at their sides. Maya moved through them like smoke. Leo followed, Devourer's Fang sheathed at his hip, his heart a drum.

The great hall was worse.

The walls were lined with puppets — hundreds of them — standing in neat rows like soldiers at attention. Knights in rusted armor. Mages in tattered robes. Merchants in fine clothes. All still. All silent. All watching the two intruders with eyes that did not blink.

**【Danger: Puppet Legion detected. If Vex commands them, they will move as one.**】

"Don't touch anything," Maya breathed. "Don't make a sound."

They crossed the hall, past a thousand empty faces, and reached the tower stairs.

Three hundred steps.

Leo climbed, sword drawn, every sense screaming. At the top, a single door stood open, spilling warm golden light into the dark.

**【You have reached: The Puppet Lord's Sanctum.**】
**【Final warning: The enemy within is beyond your level. Entering is suicide.**】

"Suicide," Leo murmured. "I've heard that before."

He stepped through the door.

The room was round, lined with windows, and at its center stood a throne made of what Leo desperately hoped was iron. On the throne sat a man who looked almost ordinary — pale, thin, with dark hair and a smile that did not reach his cold eyes.

Above his head floated a name tag.

**VEX — Level 97.**

"Ah," Vex said, his voice soft and amused. "Another one. Another hungry little player who found a way to eat." He stood, spreading his arms. "Welcome, little brother. Welcome to the feast."

Behind Leo, the door slammed shut.

And in the hall below, a thousand puppets turned their heads as one.

---