*KSRRTT*
“OUCH!!”
“Please endure it for a bit, Luna-dono! Otherwise, you’re going to lose too much blood.”
“URGH!!”
Kasumi tore off a bit of her sweater around her lower torso area and used it to tie up Luna’s wounds as a DIY bandage.
*KRRRTTT*
“URRGH!!”
“It’s done, Luna-dono. Please endure this for a moment! At least until we find a medical kit of some kind. The rooms with the prize still exist in this new maze. I even got this Master Key from one of those rooms.” said Kasumi as she showed Luna the Master Key.
“What’s that for?”
“The Game Master told me that I can use this to unlock any kind of locked door inside the maze. Though I’ve only used this once to enter this amusement park.”
*!*
“Ah, I almost forgot! This room has a clown that controls everything! If I heard correctly, his Faith power made up this entire room, and he can freely control everything here. A Believer with a Falcon Faith power tried to fight the clown, but he was killed so easily by moving an entire carousel to the air, by simply lifting his finger.”
“I see. Great observation, Luna-dono! This information will be crucial!”
“Kasumi-san. . . What happened to your left forearm??”
“. . .I fought someone from the Underworld who has venom Faith power. I was being careless and inhaled the venom into my body. Long story short, one of his abilities is to ignite the venom in my body by grazing me. I had to cut my arm before I died from bursting into flames.”
“. . .I see. That must’ve been gruesome, Kasumi-san!”
“Don’t worry about me, Luna-dono. I can operate just fine even with only one arm! By the way, have you seen Hana-san anywhere?”
“N-No! You’re the first person I’ve met since we all got separated!”
“I see. Then did you also hear the announcement about her murder?”
*?!*
“Huh? What?? No, I didn’t! She murdered someone?”
*!!*
“Eh? You didn’t hear the announcement? I thought the Game Master’s announcement was supposed to be announced to everyone inside the maze!”
“Now that you say it, I haven't heard the announcement anymore since I’ve come to this room.”
*!!!*
All of a sudden, there’s a big shadow looming over where the two of them talk on the ground. Kasumi immediately activates her Vein Armor and picks Luna up, and jumps away from their spot.
*BWOOSH*
“KA-BAAAAMMM*
*THUD*
Kasumi and Luna landed 3 meters away from where they were. They saw that there was a roller coaster cart that was broken because of its collision with the ground. Kasumi puts down Luna on the ground.
“That would be because I shut those announcements off from my world!”
*!*
There’s someone who suddenly teleported and stood on top of the broken roller coaster.
“Kasumi-san, that’s the clown! Please, be careful!”
“I will! I will distract him. Please hide yourself in a safe place when he is busy with me!”
Luna nods, and she stands 5 steps back away from Kasumi.
“Interesting conversation you have there! Also, who are you, miss? You weren’t one of the participants in my killing game! How did you get here?”
“Ask the Game Master!”
“Is that so? He must have prepared some special items for specific purposes, huh??”
*!*
The clown looks to the left of where he stands and sees Scar’s unconscious body lying on the ground.
“I see. You’ve defeated Scar, huh? He’s not that strong in combat, yet his Faith power remains deadly just like the rest of us! Once his opponents are stunned, he can finish them off with his gun. Though his obsession with hearing his victims scream was a little bit too much, so maybe that was his downfall. Still, it’s impressive that you’ve defeated him! How did you overcome your fear, miss?”
“Simply because what I fear in life isn’t necessarily a ‘something’ or ‘someone’.”
*!*
“Hoooooo!! What a clever way to counter his Faith power! Though knowing about it still would not allow me to overcome his Faith power if I were to fight him. His Faith power is able to creep into the deepest, most private segment of our hearts. Though not the strongest, he is one of the deadliest people, even amongst my peers from the Underworld. I can guarantee that not even the Game Master can defeat him!”
“Are you trying to lift my spirit up to give a false sense of achievement or something? What’s with the long compliment!”
“Hm, I did genuinely compliment you, but I was also trying to buy some time because I was having trouble deciding how I should kill you. Maybe with this?”
*!!!*
The clown simply raises his index finger and lowers it, pointing at Kasumi. And then multiple logs from the log chute rides suddenly appeared out of thin air above him, and he launched them simultaneously at Kasumi.
*inhales exhales*
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Kasumi simply takes a deep breath and summons her unsheathed katana on her left waist. She takes a stance and waits until all of the logs are within her range of attacks.
*SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH*
Kasumi cuts every single log that the clown throws at her.
*THUD THUD THUD*
All of the logs were cut in two, split clean right in the middle, and they all fell towards the ground after losing their momentum.
*BWOOSHH*
Kasumi suddenly vanishes from her spot.
*!!!*
*ZRAAAAASSSHHHH*
“UUUUUUUAAAAARRRGGHHHH!!!”
She appeared directly in front of the clown on top of the broken roller coaster and slashed him diagonally across his torso.
*SNAP*
The clown immediately snaps his finger and vanishes right before Kasumi.
*!*
The roller coaster where she stood also fades away from existence.
*THUD*
And she landed on the ground below. She looks to her left and right.
“(Where is he? I don’t think Luna-dono mentioned this ability of his!)”
Kasumi looks behind and sees that Luna is no longer there.
“(Good! She already hides herself.)”
“. . .”
“(His presence is completely gone. Tch! Don’t tell me this is going to be an annoying game of cat and mouse!)”
*Step step step*
Kasumi runs and leaves the area to search for the clown.
Meanwhile, Luna has found another hiding place. She hides inside one of the gondolas of the Ferris Wheel. She’s sitting on the floor of the gondola, with her back leaning against the door after she locked it, to hide from anyone who might gaze in this direction.
Even though unmanned, the Ferris Wheel still operates properly as if there is someone were manually operating it. It knows when to stop and start, and it even has safety precautions to prevent casualties. This is all part of the Clown’s Faith power.
*GRATAK*
*!*
The gondolas have started to move on their own.
*Sigh*
Luna lets out a long sigh.
“This way I can relax for a bit.”
. . .
“(Though I kinda feel guilty for letting Kasumi-san handle everything. But at the same time, I don’t really have any combat capability to help her in any meaningful way.)”
. . . .
“(Thankfully, I have a lot of experience of running away and hiding from people chasing after me.)”
. . . .
She turns around and slowly raises her head to peek from the window of the door.
*!!!*
She looks downwards and sees a woman being stabbed multiple times until she is no longer breathing, near the base of the Ferris Wheel. She looks in a different direction, and she sees a man being beaten to death by a woman with a spiky baseball bat. She looks towards another direction and sees a teenage boy being stomped to death by a bunch of adult males, possibly in their 30s.
“(This is so disturbing! People who were smiling with one another are now killing each other! But once Kasumi-san stops that clown, this whole thing will stop!)”
*!!!*
“(WAIT A MINUTE!! NOW I KNOW WHAT TO DO IN ORDER TO CONTRIBUTE SOMETHING TO THIS WHOLE THING!!)”
*Step step step*
Meanwhile, Kasumi is running around the amusement park to find the clown.
“(TCH! He’s not showing himself! That wound must’ve been pretty bad!)”
*!*
To Kasumi’s right, she sees a blatant murder attempt. A man in his 30s is trying to beat a woman in her 20s to death using a mere broomstick. The woman was heavily wounded in her left leg, as it was covered in bruises of blue across its length. She’s crawling on the ground to escape from the man.
“PLEASE DIE!! I NEED TO FIND MY FAMILY OUTSIDE OF THIS STUPID AMUSEMENT PARK!! THEY’RE ALL ALONE AND SEPARATED OUT THERE!! ONE OF THEM MIGHT HAVE ALREADY BEEN KILLED!! PLEASE!!”
“NOOOOOO!!!! SHUT UP!! WHY SHOULD I DIE FOR YOUR FAMILY’S SAKE? GO AWAY!!”
“YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE!! DIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
The man lifts the broomstick upwards and swings it very hard at the woman’s head.
*SLASH*
*KRAHK KRAHK KRAHK*
*!*
Kasumi interferes and cuts the broomstick into pieces, and they all fall to the ground.
“DROP THIS ATTEMPT OF MURDER OR YOU’LL BE THE ONE TO LOSE YOUR LIFE!!”
*!*
The man was terrified just from merely seeing the state of Kasumi’s left forearm and her wielding her katana with just her right hand.
“HIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I’M SOOOOOOORRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”
The man throws the leftover of the broomstick that he’s holding away, and runs away from Kasumi.
Kasumi turns to the woman.
“You okay, ma’am?”
“Y-yes! You really saved me! He was about to kill me for real! He hit my leg so much to the point it hurts to stand still with my left leg looking like this.”
“. . .”
Kasumi observes the wound on her leg.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t really have anything to mend for these wounds, but thankfully, you have no cuts, so you should be fine just like this!”
“It’s okay! As long as that man stays away from me, I’ll be fine.”
“Let me help you hide yourself!”
Kasumi helped the woman to stand up and guided her to a nearby woman’s bathroom. She places her inside one of the stalls.
“Please hide here, lock the door, and don’t make any noises, ma’am! I’m gonna continue my search for that clown!”
*?!*
“Wait, you’re going after that clown?”
“Yes! I figure the killing game would’ve stopped if the clown were to lose consciousness. His Faith power would be deactivated, and everyone could leave this room!”
“Please do it quickly, young miss! I have a daughter outside of this amusement park, and she’s all alone!”
“Don’t worry, ma’am! I’ll get it done quickly!”
*CLAK*
Kasumi closes the door to the toilet stall and leaves.
.
.
.
“HUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! PAPAAAAAAAAAA!!! MAMAAAAAAAAAA!!! WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUU?????”
Inside a room where the walls, ceiling, and floor are decorated with kids' toys, there is an 8-year-old girl running across the room, screaming and searching for her parents.
“PAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! MAMAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Even though there were toys everywhere she looked, she already knew that her father’s and mother’s presence was the most important in her life, and so she was desperately looking for them, paying no attention to the toys.
“HUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
She is currently all alone inside this giant room of toys, or at least that’s what she thinks.
“Heya there, little girl? Where are your parents?”
*!!*
Suddenly, a tall man wearing a trench coat and a top hat appears in front of the girl. The man is about 2.4 meters tall, and it’s clear that he’s no ordinary man. His body build is very muscular, just the diameter of his hands is about 13cm. He’s also wearing a full-face mask to hide his face. As the girl was closing her eyes, crying, she didn’t see that the man was moving so fast, approaching her from the opposite direction.
The young girl stops in front of the man.
“I can’t find my parents. . . *sniff sniff*”
“Oh, poor kid! Wanna find them together with me?”
“*Sniff sniff* Will you, mister? You’re so kind!”
“Let’s go then! Please lead the way! I’ll protect and watch over you from behind!”
“*Sniff sniff* Okay, mister!”
*step step step*
The girl felt a little joy when she was offered help. She walks in front of the man towards a door on the north side of the room.
*Thud thud thud*
*THUMP THUMP THUMP*
The small footsteps of the young girl are followed by the bigger stomps of feet of the tall and big man.
After walking silently but cheerfully for a while, they both reached the door.
“Let’s go through this door, mister! I’ve had a feeling Papa and Mama would be here!” said the girl as she turned around towards the big man.
*!!!*
But she was frozen in fear when suddenly giant set of teeth suddenly appeared in front of her face. It turns out, the tall man was a Believer, and he transformed his entire head into a shark’s head, and he opened its jaw wide open, ready to bite the kid to eat her entirely.
“I’VE ALWAYS WONDERED HOW A KID WOULD TASTE!! I’VE ALWAYS EATEN ALL OF MY VICTIMS ALIVE, BUT THEY’RE ALL EITHER ADULTS OR OLD PEOPLE. I’VE NEVER TASTED ANY CHILDREN BEFORE! THIS WILL BE MY FIRST TIME!! A PREMIERE!! I AM SO EXCITED!!”
The girl was crying in silence, hearing the giant shark's head speaking without even moving its jaw. She had no choice but to accept her fate.
*BLAM*
But at the same time, the door behind the girl opens up.
“YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! A BELIEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!”
*!!!*
*BAAAAAAMMM*
*BWOOOSSHHH*
“OOOOORRGGGHHH!!!!”
*THUMP THUMP THUMP*
Someone suddenly came out of the door and punched the giant shark's head away from the girl. The man was sent flying for five meters before bouncing a few times and stopping. He hit a lot of the toys in the room, and they scattered everywhere, though he didn’t feel anything when he was crashing through the toys, as all of them were simply visuals and not real. The impact of the punch also created a small shockwave. He’s lying with his back against the floor.
“WHO WAS THAT?”
“HEEEYYYYY!!! PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE AN OFFICER!!”
*!*
“Hey, kid! Please go away from here! You’re in the way!”
“T-Thank you for saving me, miss!”
“Eh? Whatever! Please scram!”
“A-Alright!”
The girl went into the same open door and closed it, disappearing into the next room.
“KAITO-SENPAAAAIIIIII!!! IF THIS GUY IS AN OFFICER, THEN I AM GOING TO FINALLY BE BACK TO YOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!”
The one who entered through the door and punched the big and tall man was Hana. And she’s feeling very ecstatic about this encounter.
