Swoosh. Zoom. Parry.
A pair of matte-finish daggers appeared in Eren's hands all of a sudden.
A defensive stance was taken in response to the puppet's attack. Eren didn't manage to parry the attack completely. But he was able to deflect it in such a way that his heart was spared from being stabbed by a hair's breadth.
Eren winced in pain. He almost cried in agony when the puppet twisted his anelace inside his chest. However, this wasn't the time to indulge in pain-relieving activities.
The daggers in Eren's hands disappeared as he grabbed onto the puppet's wrists. He couldn't overpower the puppet no matter how much he tried. However, he didn't have to. His job was to find the location of the real Sage. And that's what he intended to do all along by acting as bait.
Eren sent his soul sense inside the puppet's alchemic body and located the array on which it was operating. He forcefully breached the array's basic defense system and followed the trace of consciousness it contained.
