CORE

Inside The Carnival's city...

Hero stood atop a large building that overlooked at least most of the city clearly, stage lights, and the bulbs that shined across it grew brighter, supposedly a command set by The Jester to find him, how much of a hassle this was, Hero thought.

"I could try and escape, but right now, I simply can't..." Hero said as he looked up to the carnival's roof, taking notice in the incredibly strong magical barrier that trapped him within.

"For now all I need to do is hold off, I hope Justice is beating that clown right now," Hero said, his magic aura had turned off, he had suspected that sensing magical energy would have made him much easier to find, he then sat down, recollecting his thoughts as he could do nothing but fend as of now.

But then he had thought of an idea, or rather, remembered something that could be crucial.

"...The exit, I could try leaving from there," Hero thought, his eyes widening, he stood up as he began to think, how could he forget such a pivotal point as that, but despite remembering this, it seemed like a lost cause considering how much Masked Civilians Hero could see that were stacked up at the exit, seemingly guarding it while others were scouting the city one by one.

Hero clenched his fist, but not because he was infuriated, rather, he knew a perfect way to get past, he then raised his hand high into the air, then looked at a specific building not too far away from the one he was currently on.

"This should be a good enough distraction," Hero said, before slamming down his hand and sending a pillar of magic at that specific structure, tuned to not cause any damage, yet bright enough for the whole city to see.

Immediately, the Masked Civilians, other than the ones that mysteriously protected the exit began to turn their bodies over to where the light was beaming, like a swarm of bees they all began to approach it, to collect the 'nectar' that was waiting for them, supposedly.

Taking this opportunity, Hero jumped off the building and swiftly slid down, freezing the wall behind him as he fell, he then used all that ice, shattering it into millions of shards to combine it all into a hailstorm which he then perched down and rode on, before making his way towards the exit, which was not too far away.

"I doubt they will be able to sense me given how mindless they are, and if it were to happen there would only be few," Hero said, looking down at the disheveled, abandoned, and utterly betrayed city before him, sighing in guilt as he then turned his head over to where he thought the exit was, he thought if he could defeat The Jester... Then everything here would be freed.

"Just hold on a little longer, Justice, I'm coming," Hero said as frozen fog left his breath.

But then, he was surprised to find his mind changing as he slowly began to notice the waves of Masked Civilians had started to get bigger the further he traveled, taking note of this, he lowered his hailstorm, landing on a building successfully as it dissipated into ice shards, there was a higher chance of him being caught now, a higher chance he did not initially expect would come to occur.

This seemed unexplainable, Hero knew for sure that there could not have been this many in the city given its size, so why now is there more waves of these Masked Civilians coming?

"Now well isn't this quite the predicament?" A voice shouted out from behind, stopping Hero's thought process as they quickly ducked and turned around, narrowly avoiding a scythe attack that would have decapitated them instantly.

After dodging it, Hero dashed back, taking a look at the individual who had just tried to behead him, not that he was new to it.

They seemed to be wearing a colorful yellow and blue suit, red gloves, and a purple bow tie, finished off with a gold tophat, it was quite unfit say the least, but perhaps the most critical detail Hero noticed was the fact they wore a mask, a mask almost exactly similar to the Masked Civilians.

"A puppet..? No, this aura is different... Wait..." Hero said, his eyes slightly widening as he stood up and took a step back, ice magic erupting from his legs and covering the floor while the mysterious individual spun around his scythe and got in a stance.

"Their benefactor-?!" Hero blurted out, before suddenly dodging another swinging attack from the mysterious individual, whose scythe had suddenly traveled towards him in an instant, without him even moving, it happened in that micro instant, causing Hero to ponder as he slid back to the edge, almost falling off the building.

All Hero could remember now, was that he for sure saw a hint of a magical circle, as gold as the man's hat, supposedly where Hero thought the scythe had come from.

"Why not submit yourself? I could make you into one of these puppets, after all, despite being in great pain they are living quite the life in their feeble minds," The Playwright spoke, pointing at their forehead as Hero was taken aback, his eyes narrowing down at the individual before him.

"I take it you aren't pleased with that offer? Perhaps I could do it the opposite way, you live a good life in reality at the cost of gigantic pain-" The Playwright spoke in a proud tone, like a man who had finished an errand, but suddenly, Hero ran towards him, grabbing him by his face as he then slammed him to the ground, creating a shockwave of ice and wind as The Playwright opened a portal behind his body, falling into it as Hero reeled back his hand before it was devoured.

"Then you are not okay with both of those offers? Major loss, friend," The Playwright spoke, spinning around their scythe as they reappeared through a portal a few meters away from Hero, who did not respond, and merely stood up as he turned around to look at The Playwright.

"...Why is it that every single damn overlord in these Areas have the need to terrorize their own civilians?" Hero spoke, and in a fit of frustration, dashed towards The Playwright, who only sighed as they brought up their scythe, swinging it directly into Hero's chest, he pushed it deeper, causing Hero to bleed white blood, both from his chest and mouth.

"My my, can we not get so rough? I need these hands to continue manufacturing the masks for him," The Playwright remarked, shrugging their arms casually.

"...Stop with those excuses," Hero mumbled, catching The Playwright off guard as he rammed through the entirety of his scythe, including his handle, injuring his chest further, yet at the same time, without any bit of struggle on his face as he then delivered a devastating blow of magic to The Playwright's chest, causing for them to drop their scythe immediately.

"If you want to make excuses then make it as good as the cause!" Hero shouted, delivering a wave of ice spikes toward The Playwright, however, they were able to recover just in time, and in response, summoned a portal behind Hero, causing the spikes to attack him instead, but as it was his own magic, it was nothing to him as he simply broke out of the ice, shattering it into shards which grouped up into a hailstorm, chasing down The Playwright as did Hero, who ran back and jumped off of the building gracefully.

Hero caught up to the edge of the building, and without a second to think, he too hopped off the tower, speeding his fall up by forcing his hailstorm to push his feet, allowing him to chase The Playwright, who was in a comfortable position, before summoning a portal behind themself and escaping the fall entirely, leaving Hero as the only one dropping, but there Hero sensed The Playwright's magical aura, tuned to a weaker state, as if they were trying to hide.

"...Pointless," Hero whispered to himself before turning the hailstorm under his feet and turning it into a whip, which he connected to the building he dropped from, and used the weight of his entire body to swing into the tower, crashing through the concrete walls as he rolled inside of it's wooden floors, and there he was met with The Playwright again, sitting down on a nearby table comfortably.

Without a second wasted, Hero dashed forth to The Playwright, who got down from the table as they engaged in hand-to-hand combat, Hero sent a left hook towards The Playwright's face, but they were able to block it with ease using their right arm, using it to then pull Hero closer, tugging on the hand he used to punch as The Playwright counterattacked with a right hook.

But this was merely a part of Hero's trick, using the force from The Playwright's punch which knocked him down, he got on his legs, before sending a devastating sweep kick, taking The Playwright by surprise as he then sent a powerful kick, sending The Playwright out of the walls while Hero left a trail of ice spikes in his wake.

But this would have been had The Playwright not summoned a portal on the wall he was crashing into, effectively stopping any damage he could have taken, opening a portal behind Hero as he used the momentum he still had to send a dropkick to Hero's back.

Although, just as The Playwright thought he had achieved victory, given Hero's weak state and devastating injury in his chest, Hero was merely waiting for the rat to enter its trap.

Hero sent a surge of magic through his back, freezing through The Playwright's leg, with such speed and efficiency, it completely flash-froze them whole, leaving only a statue of what remained of The Playwright.

Their frozen body fell to the ground, not shattering, they were still breathing, but unable to melt the ice nor use their abilities given their state.

Hero stood there, as he looked down before him, giving an unfazed stare as he began to ponder once more...

"Save what you can,"

"That's what I've always wanted to do, even before I met that knight..."

"But it had a double meaning all along,"

"I could only save those who could be saved... And wanted to be saved,"

Hero picked up The Playwright's body by their leg, still feeling their pulse through the ice.

"It pains me to know that some enjoy doing this..."

"I don't, and I'm tired of seeing it,"

"Even thinking of it right now, it hurts me ever so slightly,"

"But his actions, his demeanor, even for just a second I knew that he's strayed too far,"

"And it's not just him, everyone, everyone in this world is cruel,"

"What difference does it if I..."

"..."

"In this large world, the death of someone as irrelevant as he is means nothing in the grand scheme of things,"

"...This should do nothing to my principles,"

"Save what you can,"

"Save those who could be saved, and want to be saved..."

"Those who blow away life..."

"End up fluttering away just as easily," Hero said, his grip tightening on The Playwright before shattering them entirely, bits of their bodies and cells in shards, all collectively on the floor, grouped up into one bloody, yet melted mess.

Hero stood there for a moment, drinking it all in, before calmly walking away, over to the large hole in the wall they had created.

"Ah... The King, was it?" Hero questioned himself, overlooking The Carnival as a whole, and much to his surprise, all the Masked Civilians, their masks... They began to wither away into the sky, but there was something wrong, their eyes, still had a hint of an unnatural purple, to all of them, to every single one of them, it was not done yet.

"...The King... They all speak of The King..."

"They all pledge their loyalty to The King,"

"The fault was never on a boss, a mad scientist, an anomaly, a knight, or a jester..."

"It's all The King's fault,"

"...The King,"

"His design poisons everyone,"

"...The King..."

"I will..."

"Dethrone you, end your rule... Forever,"