Kasumi’s Power cleave also cuts the carousel in two.
“Aw!”
Luna fell on her butt atop the cut carousel as it was starting to tilt and fall.
*Grabs*
Kasumi grabs Luna by her waist. She picks her up, carrying her in her right arm next to her waist.
“Thank you, Luna-dono!”
“Don’t mention it! It’s the least I can do!”
*BWOSH*
Kasumi jumps down from the falling carousel towards the ground below. She lands safely and puts Luna down.
*Thud*
“Phew! It’s finally over!”
Luna falls to her butt and lets out a sigh of relief. Kasumi bends down and closes her face towards Luna’s.
“Luna-dono, are your wounds okay??”
“Hm? Oh, right! I completely forgot about them! I was so thrilled to finally come up with a plan to help you. I never paid them any attention.”
But as soon as she finishes her sentence, the adrenaline that had taken away her attention towards her wounds has faded. The sharp pain in her wound reverberated and signalled her sense of pain to go off.
“AAAAAAAAA!!! IT HUUUUURRRTTTTSSS!!!”
*Thud*
Luna falls on her back as she rolls back and forth, holding both of her wounds in her left shoulder and right leg with both of her hands.
“OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! OUCH!”
“C-Calm down, Luna-dono! You hitting your wounds against the floor like that is going to worsen the wounds and the pain.”
Luna immediately stops and tries to endure the pain. She gets up and sits on the floor with teary eyes.
“Alright!”
*THUD*
Kasumi falls on her back against the floor of her own accord.
“K-Kasumi-san, that was quite loud. Is your head okay??”
“I am fine, Luna-dono. I had my Vein armor just now to protect my head. But the muscles in my entire body are screaming at me for how exhausted they are. I’m gonna lie down for a bit and enjoy this amusement park atmosphere for a bit before it crumbles down.”
“Good point! Why didn’t all of these immediately crumble? I thought you knocked him out, Kasumi-san! I even saw it before my eyes.”
“I think that he’s completely unable to move, but his consciousness still lingers just a tiny bit. He’ll soon completely pass out, though. Given the concussion in his head.”
“I see. By the way, Kasumi-san!”
“Yes, Luna-dono?”
“What was that stuff you said all about? Kasumi-style? What on earth was that? I thought your swordsmanship was all about that ia-something this whole time.”
“The Iai technique. Luna-dono, the Iai technique is a sword technique to keep the katana inside its sheath and only draws it out at the moment of slashing and immediately puts it back into the sheath once you’re done! I can’t exactly do that anymore with one arm, right? I had to come up with something else! I’ve decided to pursue and develop my own swordsmanship using the fundamentals that I obtained when I was mastering the Iai technique.”
“. . .I apologize, Kasumi-san. I didn’t know it was a sensitive topic.”
“It’s alright, Luna-dono. I have decided that I wanna be more open about myself towards you two from now on! One day, I’ll also tell you both about my childhood memories.” said Kasumi with her eyes closed and a smile.
“I see. Thank you, Kasumi-san!”
“I should be the one thanking you two instead. I wouldn’t know what to do with my life anymore if I hadn’t encountered the two of you.”
“Eh?? But that’s all on Quroe-san! He gave you a new outlook on life. I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s not true, Luna-dono! For instance, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat that clown just now if it weren’t for you and your plan.”
“Hahahaha! Thanks for cheering me, Kasumi-san!”
“I did no such thing. I was merely stating a fact!”
*!*
Everyone who had gathered in the center of the amusement park witnessed almost the entirety of their fight from below.
*CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP*
They all quickly gathered around Kasumi and Luna and gave them both a big and joyful round of applause. Kasumi and Luna blushed a bit from the amount of attention they’re getting, especially when they’re both lying and sitting on the floor.
“THANK YOU, KASUMI-SAN!!”
“YEAH! YOU DEFEATED THAT CLOWN!!”
“WOOHOOOOOO!!! WE’RE FREE!!”
“THANKS TO THIS LITTLE GIRL AS WELL!! SHE GATHERED ALL OF US AND STOPPED THE KILLING GAME BY GIVING US HOPE!!”
“YEAH! THAT LITTLE GIRL IS IMPRESSIVE!! SHE WAS ABLE TO TALK US ALL OUT OF OUR HATRED!!”
“AND THAT RESULTED IN THE CLOWN’S DEFEAT!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
“HAHAHAHAHA!! I was finally able to use my Faith power for good!” said the male Believer with Bazooka Faith power.
“HAHAHAHAHA!! CORRECT! The fact that she was able to come up with a plan with my Faith power, even though mine don’t really have any offensive technique!! What a girl!” said the male Believer with the Jetpack.
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
“YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
The crowd is cheering for Kasumi and Luna. Both of them can only stay still and frozen, not being able to respond at all.
*GRRTKKK GRRTKKK GRRTKKK GRRTKKK*
*!!!*
Suddenly, the entire room is shaking greatly, and it startled everyone inside. Some of them almost fell to the floor due to how sudden and violent the crumble was.
“W-WHAT IS GOING ON?!”
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“EARTHQUAKE?”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
“HEEEEEEEEELLLLPPPP!!!”
“NOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHAT IS THIS NOW?!”
“EVERYBODY CALM DOOOWWNNN!!!”
*!!!*
Luna suddenly shouts. Everyone in the crowd is looking towards her.
“Everyone. Do not panic. This is simply the case of that clown’s pocket dimension falling apart because his Faith power deactivates when he loses consciousness.”
*!*
“E-Eh? Is that so?”
“Phew!”
“WHEW! I thought something bad was going to happen.”
“Yeah, I am so tired of these killing games. I just wanna go home already.”
“Yeah! Can’t believe it’s all gonna be over soon.”
“. . .”
“Everyone! What are you all talking about? We’re still inside the Game Master’s infinite maze. We only escape the killing game made by the clown! Remember! We’ll all likely going to be teleported back to the maze.”
. . . . . . . .
The crowd became dead silent after hearing Kasumi’s explanation. They all just stand idly without saying anything, not even to each other, nor whispering.
*GRATAK GRATAK*
Eventually, the entire amusement park crumbles apart, and then a great darkness envelops everyone’s eyes.
*!*
“I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING!!”
“HEEEEEELLLLPP!!!”
“I’M BLIIIIIIIIIINNNNNDDDD!!!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
After just a few seconds, everyone got their vision back.
*!*
They are now inside a giant square room, 20x20 meters in size. The entire room is just gray on the walls, floor, and ceiling, with a thick mist shrouding the entire room, blocking everyone’s vision so that they can’t see 2 meters ahead.
“Oh no. We really are back.”
“The killing game still continues.”
“We’re never getting out of here, aren’t we?”
“Why do I have to experience something like this??”
*thud thud thud*
A lot of people fall on their knees after realizing their current situation hasn’t changed really all that much. Some people are even crying and sobbing. Some are so physically exhausted that they collapsed and lie on the floor.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDD THAT’S ABOUT EVERY MURDER THAT HAPPENED JUST NOW!!! WHEWW! THAT WAS A VERY LONG AND NONSTOP ANNOUNCEMENT!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
*!!!*
All of a sudden, everyone in the room heard the Game Master’s voice. From the way he spoke, it seems like he just finished listing every murderer’s names and the victims’ as well for a while. There’s a hint of exhaustion in his voice.
“OH OH OH OH!! EVERYONE!! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!! IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYONE FROM THE AMUSEMENT PARK HAS RETURNED TO MY MAZE!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THAT’S HILARIOUS!! CLINTON THE CLOWN GOT BEATEN UP, HUH?”
*!*
“Wow, Kasumi-san! I really haven’t heard this announcement for a while.”
“Seems like the clown was really that powerful.”
“HM? WAIT A MINUTE!! KASUMI COLDHART!! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO STROKED DOWN THE CLOWN!!! WHY DIDN’T YOU KILL HIM THEN?”
“. . .”
“ARE YOU STUPID, COLDHART-SAN? IF YOU DON’T KILL HIM, HE’S GOING TO WAKE UP LATER!! DON’T BLAME ME IF HE STARTED ANOTHER KILLING GAME OF HIS LATER!!”
“. . .”
“Ehh? The Silent treatment, huh? Ah, whatever! ERHEM! ERHEM! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!! THERE WERE 365 PEOPLE EXACTLY THAT WERE TRAPPED INSIDE THE CLOWN’S SEPARATE KILLING GAME INSIDE AN AMUSEMENT PARK THAT WAS CREATED BY HIM, AND NOW, THERE ARE ONLY 38 PEOPLE LEFT WHO SURVIVED THAT ENTIRE ORDEAL!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!! CONGRATS GUUUUYYYSSSS!!!!”
*CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP*
The Game Master audibly clapped his hands, and everyone inside the maze could hear him.
“. . . .”
Everyone in the crowd was left speechless by the announcement.
“There are only. . .38 of us left. . .”
“Out of 365 people. . . 38 left. . . so 327 people have died. . .”
. . . . .
Everyone fell on their knees and sat down on the floor. They have fallen silent for a long time now. They are trying to comprehend the results of the clown’s killing game. What started as something that seemed like a runaway with all of the fun rides inside a harmless amusement park from the Game Master’s killing game has turned into another cruel killing game that killed over 300 people.
. . . . .
After taking enough time to rest their bodies, both Luna and Kasumi get up and stand.
*CLAP CLAP CLAP*
Luna claps loudly to gain everyone’s attention.
“EVERYONEEEEEEEEE!!! PLEASE LISTEEEEEEENNNN!!!”
*!*
The people are turning their heads towards Kasumi and Luna.
“I know our situations are still dire, but remember, we overcame the clown by working together!! Now, imagine if we riled up everyone inside the Game Master’s maze! We’ll all work together to defeat him that way as well!!”
. . . .
One of the men from the crowd stands up.
“Y-Young lady, for the clown, we can easily spot him even though he kept warping around. And thanks to you and Kasumi-san over there, the clown was defeated. But this time, in order to even meet the Game Master, we have to kill two other people beforehand. Do we really have to kill each other yet again just to get out of this maze? Isn’t that exactly what the Game Master wants?”
“T-That’s. . .”
Luna stuttered as she realized that what the man was saying was true.
. . . . . .
Kasumi thinks to herself for a while, and after a few minutes, she starts speaking up.
“No! It’s fine! There is still a way to have an audience with the Game Master!”
*!*
This time, there are a lot of people in the crowd standing up. They were intrigued by Kasumi’s words.
“Please explain to us, Kasumi-san!”
“Any ideas are accepted, Kasumi-san!”
“Yeah! We all ran out of ideas!”
“We genuinely don’t know what else we can do.”
“And I don’t wanna kill people anymore! I killed someone as an act of self-defense when a guy charged at me with a baseball bat. I ended up having to kill him instead to save myself.”
The man who explains his regret falls to his knees, with his head down, holding it with both of his hands. He’s also sobbing from feeling so awful about taking someone else’s life, even if it was purely self-defense.
*Thud*
“Yeah! Me too! I killed a man bigger than me with his own weapon. He was holding a hatchet, and he slipped when he caught my legs. He tried to strangle me so I reached out my hands to the dropped hatchet on the floor, and. . .”
The woman starts crying after confessing her survival story.
. . . . . .
Everyone couldn’t say anything. Some of them wanted to condemn them for their crimes, but at the same time, they had no intention to kill first. Their life were threatened and that’s why they have to take extreme measures.
“Everyone! If we were to defeat every single officer that works for the Game Master, this killing game will end!”
*!!!*
Everyone slightly got their hopes up hearing Kasumi’s suggestion.
“I-Is that even possible? Inside an infinite maze like this one, where people rarely met each other?”
“Y-yeah! That might be a pointless thing to do.”
“Remember that the Game Master has modified this whole maze so that people are more often to meet with one another.” answers Kasumi.
*!*
“I-I think I remember hearing the Game Master say something like that!”
“But then, how are we gonna defeat his officers? Just the clown alone was really tough to deal with. Even for you, Kasumi-san! How are the rest of us going to defeat the other officers?”
“And how many officers are in total inside this maze? I don’t remember the Game Master specifying whether they’re counted amongst the 24,000 inside or not.”
“Not to mention, what if the Game Master decided to just leave us all here without ever wanting to meet us?”
“First of all, please listen to what I have to say. I completely understand all of your worries. But we’re all gonna have to split into smaller groups of people! Let’s do a headcount.”
Everyone in the crowd finally stood up, and they all followed Kasumi’s direction. They do a headcount and separate themselves into smaller groups of people.
“Luna-dono will go together with me! We’re comrades even before this freak show started!”
“Yeah! We’ve been together for a while after all!”
“So, that makes 36 of you left. An even number. This will make the assembly a lot less of a headache.”
There are about 17 males, and 13 females, and then there are 6 Believers outside of the 18 males, all adult males. Kasumi and Luna worked together to think of the best group proportions.
“Alright, everyone, let’s do this!”
The 36 people are split into six groups, each consisting of 6 people. Each Believers join one group so that every group has at least a combatant of some sort.
“Remember, everyone! Spread the word, and make everyone join you! Don’t leave anyone behind! Build trust with every new person that you’ve encountered; that way, we’ll slowly build up our numbers so we can thwart this stupid game!”
“YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” Everyone responds in high spirits.
For once, this feels like a plausible plan for the situation.
“Also, be extremely cautious whenever you are confronted by one of the officers instead. Work together with the Believer in your group and don’t make hasty decisions. Always try to be calm, no matter how scared you are. Your fear might affect the mental state of the Believers in your group! That would be bad for all of you, you got it?”
“Y-YEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”
“Also, if possible, after you defeat any officers, please constrain them as much as possible so that they won’t be able to move in case they wake up later.”
“YYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”
Kasumi clenches her right hand into a fist and raises it above her head.
“EVERYONE!! LET’S ALL GET OUT OF HERE TOGETHER!! WE WILL NOT FAIL AS LONG AS NONE OF US GETS ANY FUNNY IDEAS ABOUT TRYING TO ESCAPE HERE ALONE AND BACKSTABS SOMEONE IN YOUR GROUP!!”
*!!!!*
“NOW I AM NOT SAYING THIS TO RAISE SUSPICION AMONGST YOU! BUT REMEMBER, THE ONLY REASON WE ALL DEFEATED THAT CLOWN IS BECAUSE YOU ALL LET GO OF YOUR OWN EGO AND TRUSTED IN LUNA-DONO’S PLAN TO COOPERATE!! PLANT THAT THOUGHT AND FACT INTO YOUR HEAD AND NEVER FORGET ABOUT THAT?? DO YOU ALL AGREE??”
“YYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
Everyone raises their fists as well. Kasumi’s speech has successfully united everyone’s hearts and minds to prevent any betrayal situations that could’ve easily happened once they’re all scattered.
“WELL THEN!! EVERYONE!! LET’S GET OUT OF HERE TOGETHER!! WE WILL LEAVE AND THE GAME MASTER WILL PAY FOR THIS SILLY GAME OF HIS!!”
“YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
“EVERYONEEEE!! MOVE OOUUUUUTTTTT!!!”
*STEP STEP STEP STEP STEP*
At Kasumi’s last signal, everyone immediately scattered and spread out, heading towards different rooms and leaving. Moving in groups made all the mist scatter away easily.
“Let us leave too, Luna-dono! We need to find Hana-san, somehow!”
“Right!”
Kasumi activates her Vein armor and offers Luna a piggyback ride.
“Let us go, Luna-dono!”
“But, are you going to be fine carrying me like that?”
“I’m fine, Luna-dono! My Vein armor is strong! Don’t worry about it!”
“A-Alright!”
Luna hops onto Kasumi’s back, and they leave towards the door in front of them.
