Demon Lord Shapeshifting System



Suddenly, the puppet that looked like Artea was taken from Harker's hands. 

"This isn't for sale." Kokoro said, scowling.

"This is commissioned work. It's not finished yet." Shinzou added. 

"Go look for something else."

"There are a lot of good things here that fit you more."

Harker shook his head. "What if I want to buy that thing? I'll pay more than the one who commissioned it." 

But the strange old men just shook their heads. 

"Not for sale."

"Find something else." 

Harker clenched his fist. Joan was confused, and asked. "Who is Artea Holmwood?"

Harker then noticed a marking on the puppet Artea's arm. It was an engraving of a familiar smiling marionette woman wearing the top hat of a circus ring mistress. 

"Nobody." Harker said with a growl. "Let's go. I think I've seen enough. We'll come back, though."

He stomped off, and the old men just waved as they left. 

"Thank you for stopping by!"

"We'd love to see you soon!"

They went out into the park and Joan decided that this must be far enough for Harker to answer her questions. She pulled her hand back.

"That doll looked like someone you knew, right? Artea Holmwood? Who is that—"

"I didn't tell you because I thought it was unimportant to the Garcia case. But seeing now….. I guess I was wrong." Harker sighed, slumping to the bench. "Artea Holmwood is Roland's supposed new fiancee to replace Angela."

"Oh." Joan sat beside him. "She looks….. pretty, I guess. Her puppet version at least."

"Maybe." Harker said. 

"Maybe?" 

"For certain people, I guess." 

Joan couldn't stop herself from snorting at this. "You hate her, don't you?"

"Hate is too strong of a word. I barely even know her. I just don't like her." Harker said. "There's something about her that I don't like."

Joan raised an eyebrow. "Which is…?"

Harker shook his head. "Look, the important thing was that Artea was with us in investigating the Circus Cabaret and the crime scene too. She helped a bit with interpreting what the Lovers' card might possibly mean, but that's about it. I thought she's just a nosy girl trying to cling on to Roland as much as possible."

He looked down. "But I was wrong. You've seen the other puppets, right? One of them looked like Dahlia. The old man could be this lawyer that was the past victim of the shadow skinner thing, and so was the pretty woman and the scrawny guy. There were more but I wasn't able to see them better."

Joan nodded. "Yeah... I barely even noticed them if you hadn't pointed them out. They're not even hidden in some corner, they're just… there. And yet I didn't see them."

Harker stood up. "Even if I don't like Artea, I should warn her and Roland. This just complicates things. I should convince Roland to make sure she doesn't get involved as much as possible."

Joan stood up too. "Alright then. Should I join you? I mean… I don't really have plans for today and our antique shop date was actually worse than I thought." 

Harker thought about it, a little reluctant. "Look… We're still in the dark about this whole situation. There's too many risks and… Unless I know more on what we're really facing, I don't really want to put any of you in danger."

Joan scoffed. "Harker, I killed Wendigos with you in the Appalachians. I'm less easy to kill than most 'humans' on this planet. I'll be fine."

Without even waiting for his response, his girlfriend already went to a phone booth. "Come on, we'll call Roland and take a cab to Holmwood Uni!"

Harker could only sigh. Unlike Mina who he could still coax despite how stubborn she was, Joan just simply does as she pleases and always gets her way. 

He called Roland, gave him a heads-up that Joan would be joining in, and added:

"Also….. I found something about Artea. She might be in danger. Does she go out late at night near the place of the killings?"

Roland sounded a bit confused. "Hm? No, she doesn't even live near the area that passes by there. Why?"

"I'll explain later."

Once he got into Holmwood Academy, he explained as they walked on the school grounds.

It was just like any other posh private university that Harker had been to. It was actually less impressive than Stoker. The gardens were nice, and there were some cool statues and exhibits like this robotic version of the founder waving at everyone that passed through the building dedicated to him.

There was also an open space planetarium, where projectors flashed some pictures of space and a 3D moving model of the 9 planets circling the sun moved around their orbits. 

Roland listened carefully as Harker and Joan recounted their encounter in Kokoro to Shinzou antique shop. He rubbed his chin. 

"Kokoro to Shinzou. It means 'mind and heart'. Well, kokoro is actually a bit complicated to explain, and could also mean 'heart' but in a more metaphorical sense. It's our emotions, our core spirit….. While shinzou is the organ that pumps blood throughout our body."

"So they're actually the Brother Hearts." Joan thought. "But do you think that they're involved in the case too?"

"I do. But more indirectly, I believe. They're neither our allies or enemies…. for now. But from what Harker said, that puppet they were commissioned to make meant Artea harm. I will warn her and keep a closer eye on her." Roland said. "And I won't be taking her with us when investigating anymore."

"That's for the best." Harker said. "Did you get more information about the police chief and his kid?"

"I plan to. I saw Galeas Fieldings earlier." Roland said. "We can interrogate him like we did with Zaina. Their libraries have booths, we can do it there."

He explained. "From what I gathered about this NY Aeronautics internship, the competition was really strong. But Felix was in a very good position before the murder, due to his academic achievements and grades beforehand. Framing him for murder might be too far, but maybe Galeas holds a grudge more personal than that, A vendetta."

Harker nodded. As they went inside the school library building…..

He then noticed the posters that had been all around the school. He realized that it was for the upcoming Student Council elections, and there were actually a few people making their campaigns.

He saw Artea's familiar face as she was running for president, then the face of the man who was running for opposition.

His eyes widened, almost bugging out of their sockets. 

"Kian Shaw!?"