The puppet's wooden mouth split even wider, cracking at the edges. Thick, black-red blood began to gush out from the widening seam, and it poured in streams that made the sight almost unbearable.

Tiana and Chantelle instinctively drew closer to each other, a bone-deep chill gripping them. A shared, unspoken fear filled the air—something terrible was about to descend.

The puppet chuckled. "Stanley, I've waited for you here… in this cursed Underworld Kingdom of the Dead… for 100 years. From the moment they buried me, I knew you'd never let go. Even after all this time, I knew you'd still crave the Elixir of Immortality."

Stanley shouted, his voice wild with denial. "No! No, you're not real! You can't be real! I saw you die—I remember everything! I was there when the Demon Queen forced the arsenic poison down your throat!

"First, you vomited blood, even spitting up your internal organs! Then, you went into convulsions while the light in your eyes gradually dimmed and was replaced