Chapter Text
“There, all finished!” Luca confidently exclaimed, stepping away from his handiwork.
To any other person, the large machine Luca was working on would seem like a jumble of random mechanical parts. Even to himself, and the two other resident technology experts, Tracy and Burke, that’s what it would seem like. But when the machine was connected to Fiona’s Holy Key, it would be capable of opening portals to other worlds. Or so that’s what the manor’s resident outer gods had said.
“I’m still not sure this is the best idea…” Tracy meekly whispered.
“Bah! I’m an old man! No way I’m letting all of this work go to waste!” Burke said as he raised his flask to his mouth before realizing it was empty for the twentieth time.
If Hastur or Yidhra had any objections, they didn’t voice it. Both Hastur and Yidhra’s follower she was speaking through stood in a corner of the basement room, seemingly uninterested, though if that were the case they would have left the room long ago.
“Well, if we’re all finished, let’s try it out then, shall we?” Fiona asked, levitating the Holy Key into its slot on the machine.
Luca, Burke and Tracy each step up to one of three levers on the machine.
“On three, ok? One, tw-”
“GOOOO!”
“LUCA!”
Burke and Tracy hastily pull down their levers after Luca enthusiastically pulls down his early. The machine starts making noises that no one in the room is sure the machine is supposed to make or not, but soon enough, a large, blue portal with an eye pattern appears in the air above the machine.
“This is it! It’s time we finally end that woman!” Eagle’s Dance cried out.
The other animals roared in agreement. The time to kill their cruel and abusive “tamer” had finally come. It was after the last show of the day, when the tamer would be most exhausted, and would expect the animals to be in the same state.
The animals snuck through the complex, eventually coming to the tamer’s dressing room door. Once they were sure they were ready, they all stepped away except for Eagle’s Dance. Taking a deep breath, Eagle’s Dance launches off the floor, flips, then thrusts both his legs into the door, causing it to go flying off with a powerful kick. The gazelle leaps into the room as the black swan charges in, whipping out her gun to the large mirror in the dressing room where the Animal Tamer usually sits. But instead, there is only a large, blue symbol in the reflection of the mirror.
The rhizotomist lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in. The hunter had finally left the spot she and the forest’s guardian were hiding, and she felt as though she could finally relax.
“Wait here. I’m just going to make sure the coast is clear before we leave. Don’t worry, I won’t be long” the guardian assured the rhizotomist.
Accepting a nod from the rhizotomist, Night Owl climbed quietly out of their hiding spot, before heading away through the forest. The sudden absence of her protector caused the rhizotomist to become nervous once more, but the guardian’s words helped her stay calmer than when the hunter had first appeared.
Just as the rhizotomist thought the forest’s guardian had abandoned her, she heard steps coming towards her. Sighing with relief once more, she started to climb out of her hiding spot, but froze when she saw instead a menacing, wooden deer-like face glaring at her instead. And unlike last time, the Night Owl would not be able to save her.
The god roared with anger as rivers dried up, mountains were toppled, cities were destroyed. Soon the whole world would be destroyed.
The Mongol thought she would be safe, thanks to her crown and scepter. But the Spring Demon knew that was not the case. With all this chaos, even the Enraged god wouldn’t be safe.
It came as a surprise then, when suddenly the destruction quieted down and stopped, as suddenly as it came. The Spring Demon didn’t understand what happened, but little did she know that someone else would have an explanation.
The man’s heart was beating fast. He had finally managed to confine the dream messenger to his coffin, and would finally be able to put an end to her reign of terror. As his trembling hands struggled to perform the necessary strokes on the witch’s body as fast as he liked, he heard the dreaded sound he thought he had heard for the last time.
Placing down his brush and drawing the sword he barely knew how to use with shaking hands, the Exorcist stood to face the lupine man with the sinister laughter. The “gentleman”, as he referred to himself.
“Ah, my dear exorcist. Do you still believe you can put an end to the dream? Alone?” the Moonlight Gentleman taunts him.
The exorcist tries his best to hold the Holy Sword confidently, but it doesn’t faze the lupine.
“You think you can harm me with such a toy? Very well, I’ll indulge you.”
The man strikes with such power and speed that the exorcist barely blocks the attack. He’s sent stumbling backwards, tripping in an almost comical fashion over his coffin, and falls behind it, out of sight.
When the exorcist doesn’t get back up, the “gentleman” walks towards it.
“What’s this? Done playing already? Have you finally gone to sleep for good?”
But instead of finding the exorcist cowering in fear or sleeping behind the coffin, the moonlight gentleman instead finds a portal that strangely reminds him of the Dream Messenger.
The teen dashes through the streets of Steam City, as the battle rages behind him. He finally passes the last of the buildings, out into the open snowy wastelands surrounding the city. Spotting a set of footprints through the snow, the teen follows them as quickly as he can, unaware he narrowly avoided a rather cold fate.
Just as the Steam Teen thinks he’s caught up to the traitor, the man who’s become the Evil Eye Host, he sees that the footprints end abruptly. The youth look around in bewilderment. There’s no way the man could've just vanished out of existence, is there?
Just as the professor thinks he’s evaded the last of the pyramid’s traps, a misplaced step causes the area of the floor he’s standing on to crumble beneath him.
Falling hard onto the stone floor at least one storey beneath him, it takes the Archaeological Professor a few moments to get his bearings. When he does, he sees he’s in a tomb-like area of the pyramid that must have been sealed off, filled with gold and countless other treasures.
But what catches the professor’s attention is the large, feathered half-snake woman coiled around him, her clawed fingers now stroking his chin.
Giggling before whispering in an ancient language the professor doesn’t understand, the woman slithers away from him, as an imposing horned man approaches the professor and raises a Khopesh blade to strike. The professor yelps and crawls backwards, but quickly finds himself cornered against a wall.
Vajytte laughs, but suddenly her laugh turns into a scream, and she seems to disappear into the floor. Anubis turns around at the sound of his master’s cry, seemingly just as confused as the professor.
An explosion blasts out a part of the forest prison, as the witch bursts out and dashes down the village path. The village’s two guardians quickly run out of the hole, fearful for what destruction the escaped witch could cause in the village.
After agreeing to have the Light Guardian catch the witch, White Beard runs towards another part of the village to inform the village’s guardian spirit of the situation.
The wizard throws open a door to a building near the edge of the village, but is shocked to find that the Soul Catcher is nowhere in sight.
The two sorceresses avoid the bear’s attacks, attempting to tame the beast.
“The cards showed an unfortunate ending to this encounter. Shall we let fate run its course, or shall we try to alter it?” The sorceress with the tambourine asks her partner.
But she wouldn’t receive an answer. It seemed someone else had need of “Fate”.
The prince’s bodyguards rushed through the halls, twin orbs of light guiding their path. Clarity and Nostalgia finally arrive at the throne room, and the two give a silent nod to each other. They put their hands on the doors to the throne room, as a snake appears on the door in front of Clarity while a phoenix appears in front of Nostalgia, and the two force the doors open.
Nostalgia’s gun falls to the floor with a soft clink, as the two stand in shock. Literally everything in the room has turned to solid gold.
The two bodyguards run to the throne searching for their missing prince, but they only find a portal on the seat of the throne.
A tall man, bearing a golden laurel crown, cape and sword descends on a large, sun-shaped disk. Stepping it off of it casually as the Athenians scatter before him, he strolls up to one of the citizens, a poor youth dressed in blue who had fallen from fright and was desperately trying to crawl away, his wings useless in the presence of the Sun God.
“The sun is marvelous, isn’t it? And only I have the power to give it, or take it away” Apollo drones, calmly wiping a hand up the length of his blade towards the frightened youth.
As the other citizens attempt to leave without earning the wrath of the god, they can only wonder, “What happened to our Great Hero who would come to save us?”
“Hmm. I say we take it up to 130 volts today” the doctor calmly said, ignoring the pained cries of the patient with Cunning Smile Disease strapped to the electroshock chair. Earning a simple grunt from the doctor performing the treatment, the Hypnotist retreated from the operation room to the observation room.
As he waits for the machine to start up, the doctor thinks about all the other patients he’ll have to oversee the treatment of. There’s the one who wears the pot and insists it keeps away the voices that haunt him, the one who somehow manages to always escape the asylum even with a straightjacket, and finally the one that kept telling everyone he was a doctor. At least that one was easier to deal with.
Realizing the current patient still hadn’t started her treatment for the day, the doctor angrily steps back into the operation room to demand what’s taking so long. But the doctor finds the only one else in the room is the patient, who seems to be smiling slightly more genuinely now.
“He’s got gold and jewels, loads of it, you have to believe me!”
Mr. Mole had always insisted that the circus’s lead performer had a whole nest of riches to be had, but today he seemed to be more persuasive.
“If we got our hands on just some of the stuff Mr. Swifts has, we could leave this place for good!” Mr. Mole continued.
“That’s what you always say, but you never have any proof, Mole”. Being one of the circus’s oldest performers, the Long-Legged Lady was quick to deny such a thing. If their boss had indeed been hoarding riches, someone would have found out a long time ago.
“Fine. But I’m going to go and look, and you’ll all be sorry that you didn’t believe me!”
In the end, all of the circus’s other performers followed Mr. Mole to the door of Mr. Swifts’ office. Mighty Boy, the circus’s strongman, easily broke down the door.
To the disbelief of all but Mr. Mole (who was instead delighted), on Mr. Swifts' desk were bags of gold and jewels, just as Mr. Mole has said. As the performers eagerly grabbed the riches, none of them noticed the glaring absence of Mr. Swifts himself from his own office.
“Haha! You thought you could escape from me?! I’ll make you walk the plank yet!” the pirate captain taunts, as he snags the front of the sleepy girl’s gown with his hook.
“You’ll never escape this dream! I’ll make sure of it!”
The boy forgotten by time looks on from his hiding spot. He didn’t have the courage before to help the girl before, but he wouldn’t let that happen again. Gripping the piece of wood in his hands, he hurls it with all his might at the captain.
Just as the captain is about to use his pocket watch to lull the girl to sleep, a solid piece of wood strikes him on the side of the head. Reeling from the pain, the girl slips out of his grasp. He turns to see the wooden-looking boy, now fully emerged from his hiding spot.
“You’re still around boy? I thought you’d been forgotten!”
Lunging at the Forgotten Boy, the youth turns away and closes his eyes, preparing for the inevitable, but nothing comes. He timidly opens his eyes, and sees Captain Hook is nowhere in sight.
The fortune teller runs through the castle’s halls as fast as he can, his owl companion flying alongside him and hooting in encouragement. He hopes he’s not too late, but if he is…
Lunar Phase arrives at the doors leading to the banquet hall of the castle, and pushes the door open. He almost faints from the sight.
The royal Music Master is pressed against the broken keys of the harpsichord, the bench in pieces around him, his royal blue clothes now stained a deep violet. The harpsichord’s Tuner is slumped underneath it, as if she was thrown against the harpsichord’s side and then left after she fell. Lunar Phase wishes he hadn’t seen the tuning fork stabbed into her eye.
The Count’s severed arm still clutches his sword, while the Baron is slumped at the base of one of the hall’s support pillars, in a pose that suggests that his neck and possibly more of his spine was completely broken.
The royal Jester is splayed out on the steps of the stage, his boar thrown unceremoniously to the side, its stomach completely cut open. At first Lunar Phase thinks the jester’s clothes had simply been ripped off and discarded around him, but realizes it’s actually the jester’s entire body that had been torn to shreds.
At the end of the hall, the queen’s beloved mirror has been almost completely shattered. Unlike in his vision however, Lunar Phase sees not Bloodbath in its reflection, but a strange blue portal.
“Come on! She’s been brooding enough already! We need to hear what plans she has to continue this business!”
“Y-you can’t just barge into the boss’s room like that, Hound!” Nitre makes a futile attempt to hold him back, but Hound pushes her away and marches to the door of the mafia boss’s office. Before he can make it though, another member of the mafia family steps forward to block Hound’s path.
“Not you too!”
“I’m sorry, but Nitre is right. You can’t just barge in like that” the taller figure, a man in a suit with long finger claws answers, and lunges at Hound.
Nitre steps back, not wanting to get in the way of the two men fighting, and instead goes to get another member of the family to help treat the inevitable loser’s injuries.
When Nitre returns, she sees that Hound has won the fight, and the doors to the boss’s office are wide open. Loud shouting can be heard from inside, and Nitre heads closer to hear.
“What do you mean she just disappeared?” Hound’s voice cries out.
“Do your eyes not work? Do you not see this giant blue thing?” An angry male voice responds.
“Of course I see it! You expect me to believe she fell through some freaking magic portal?” Hound retorts.
“Would you like to check it out yourself, Hound?” A calmer male voice answers.
“Hell no!”
Nitre steps through the doorway of the office and sees that indeed, a large blue portal seems to have opened up in True Proof’s office. Blood Fan, who hasn’t spoken a word, seems to be gently prodding it with her fan, before it seems to be pulled from her hands and disappears within.
“What’s this? Another guest? Welcome!”
“Where am I?” Alice asks, finding himself suddenly at a large table in the forest clearing.
“Why, you’re at our Mad Tea Party!” A man in a green suit cheerfully responds. “Would you like some tea?”
“Alright…” Alice cautiously sits down at the table, beside a large, furry rabbit in a suit, who simply glances wordlessly at Alice before resuming its staring off into the distance.
Suddenly, a rabbit-like figure in a light-blue suit runs past, crying “I’m late, I’m late! The queen will have my head!”
Before Alice the man, a large blue cat dressed in a military uniform appears floating in a somewhat seductive pose over the table.
“How cruel. You didn’t invite me to this tea party?” the cat purrs.
“I don’t think this is how the story is supposed to go…” Alice quietly mumbles to himself.
“I don’t know what story you’re talking about, but we must get on with the tea party already! Oh, but how can we start the party when one of our guests has disappeared?” The Mad Hatter asks.
Alice turns and sees that somehow, the March Hare who was sitting beside him has mysteriously vanished. Maybe he shouldn’t have eaten that strange cake…
The outcast from the Bloodline brings his whip down hard against the vampire for the last time, the Bloody Sword finally coming to a rest on the castle’s velvet carpets. He holsters his whip, and heads out into the hallway, narrowly dodging a stray bullet from the church’s executioner as she fights the Count.
Heading to a deeper part of the castle where he can sense the Tome’s power, the vampire is careful to avoid the skirmishes between the Count’s allies and the church’s warriors.
Eventually reaching a room filled with candles with a checkered floor, Misfit spots the Embrace’s hellhound standing in a defensive position in front of its master. The Embrace clutches the Tome to his chest, and the vampire thinks he almost looks afraid.
The hellhound lunges, but the vampire easily knocks it aside with a swing of his whip. Angered at his companion’s suffering, The Embrace summons a cabinet in front of him whose doors open up, spewing flaming envelopes at the Misfit. Busy deflecting the attack, Misfit doesn’t notice The Embrace opening the window behind him and leaping out.
Finally noticing his target escaping, Misfit runs to the open window expecting to be too late, and is instead surprised to see a large blue portal floating in the air.
Prayer’s head chef confidently finishes the last modifications to his dish. He smirks as he looks over to see Bite’s chef still cooking his meal, wiping sweat from his forehead but still not accepting defeat. There’s no way the chef of such an inferior restaurant could create a dish that could come even close to competing with his creations.
Just as he returns his attention to his dish, a gasp and the sounds of glass shattering causes Basil to look up from his cooking once again. He looks over at Cocoa Bean, thinking the rival chef had finally cracked under pressure. The young red-head does look to be in shock, but he’s not looking at his cooking. He’s looking at where the judge for the cooking competition sits.
Basil turns around to see that White Truffle’s seat is empty. Her wine glass has shattered on the floor beside it, while Prayer’s waiter Call Bell panics and looks as though he’s seen a ghost.
The thorny whip lashes through the air as the Investigation Bureau agent rampages through the Abyss. Nothing remains standing in his wake, as he once again vows vengeance on Pickman for taking his partner.
Whiplash barely registers destroying the art gallery’s auctioneer, or the auctioneer’s bodyguard, or the strange doll-like lady. He barely remembers the Teleoperator’s message, or that the Trickster and Surveyor were left behind. All that matters to him is retrieving Puppeteer and making sure Pickman pays.
Whiplash finally reaches an obstacle he can’t blast away with a swing of his whip, the door to Pickman’s lair. With strength fueled by rage, he easily knocks the door down, preparing to end the Netherwalker.
What awaits him though, is his dear Puppeteer. Her eye has tentacles crawling out of it, as she kneels on the floor in pain, dark markings appearing on her skin. Whiplash runs to her, all of his anger melting away, and embraces her, not noticing Pickman’s former muse, the Vile Blossom, unconscious off to the side, traces of her corruption from the Abyss slowly fading.
The Netherwalker is nowhere to be seen.
“So, what do you know about the new guy, eh Rose?”
Black Rose leans onto the counter of her bar and pretends to be lost in thought.
“Weeeell, there’s only rumors, ya know? But they do say he’d be worth double all the gold you could find in the rivers right now” she replies at last.
“That’s all I needed ta hear!”
Downing the last of his drink before slamming the empty mug on the counter, the Wandering Musketeer strolls out of the bar with his usual swagger, casually winking at the blonde he was drinking with earlier.
Black Rose smiles to herself. That’s one more gone. Maybe she’ll get some credit and get to take part of his bounty?
Riding out away from town into the barren desert, the cowboy hops off his horse and ties it out of sight behind a rock, and heads out to the open desert. Sure enough, a man with hair almost as white as his skin, dressed in browns and gold carrying a golden shovel appears over the horizon.
The musketeer draws his weapon and aims it at the newcomer.
“Howdy there, partner! Looking for directions?”
Desolate Sand sighs, unflinching despite the situation.
“Another sinner to be cleansed of his greed.”
A gunshot rings out.
Black Rose starts to grow restless. Night has fallen, and there’s no word of either the musketeer or the newcomer’s death. There’s no way their standoff could have lasted this long.
Closing up the bar to the displeasure of the patrons (she offers them discounted drinks for the next few days as compensation; it won’t matter since most of them will be dead by then anyways), she rides out into the desert.
She eventually finds the cowboy’s horse collapsed from the desert heat, barely conscious, finding it strange that the winner of the duel hadn’t taken it. She heads to where she knew Wandering Musketeer would go, and finds him laying on the desert sand, dead, his blood completely dried out from the desert heat. Desolate Sand is nowhere in sight.
As the captain and his team explores the jungle heading towards the ruins, he can tell they’re being picked off one by one. That’s fine of course. He knows he’ll be safe. And that’s all that matters.
Soon, only him and his “Guide” are all that’s left as they come to the opening of the jungle ruins. As they approach the opening, a large pair of eyes appear from the darkness of the temple. The guide starts to back away in fear, but as she turns, a small girl with a mace forces her back. The native woman feels a large, scaly body behind her, and turns to see the giant snake had reverted to its true form: the jungle deity. The deity starts to coil around the woman, as the captain proceeds into the temple, completely ignored by the deity.
The Viper doesn’t understand his guide’s words, but he can tell she’s calling for his help. “Too bad” he thinks, as he disappears into the darkness of the temple. What he doesn’t expect is to suddenly find himself falling.
“Let me in! I need to see mother!”
“She has instructed us not to let anyone in. I’m sorry”
“No! I don’t care! Let me in!”
Sparrow unsuccessfully tries to force his way past the two taller men. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Sparrow flicks one of his coins at one of the men’s eyes. As he recovers, Sparrow shoves his way past the other man through the doors to his mother’s room. The two other men follow in after Sparrow, now needing to think of a new plan to murder Lady Thirteen.
Instead of seeing said business woman however, the three are shocked to find the room empty.
The patrons of the bar are intrigued by the competing music performed by the fiery diva, the newcomer with the accordion, and the strange man with the flute-like body. The bartender smiles while enduring the heat waves seemingly generated by the dancer, pleased with how lively her bar is today.
Suddenly however, a new song starts to sound. This one is more intense than the others, and soon it drowns them out completely. The barmaid looks to the source of the music: a demon in a black suit with fiery hair and a single-stringed violin, playing such fervent music it’s entranced everyone in the bar.
The effect is so strong, that it takes a moment for the barmaid and the others in the bar to notice that the music has stopped, and the newcomer musician has vanished. While the patrons and performers in the bar notice that the various cutlery and drinkware seemed to have somehow shifted during the performance, a certain gatekeeper notices that a portal strikingly familiar to the ones she opens between hell and the world of the living has appeared where the violinist once stood.
“A butterfly’s wings, a broken medal, water stains from the melting snow, a dried oil stain… Which of these is the culprit’s message?”
“Get to the point, sheriff!”
The sheriff huffs in annoyance at the ambassador’s words.
“L-let the sheriff finish, please” the train’s conductor adds in a quiet voice.
Mentally thanking the conductor, the sheriff continues.
“With the clues I’ve gathered, I can safely say that the culprit is-”
A high-pitched scream cuts off the sheriff. He whips around to see Lady Sophia’s companion pointing, fear in her eyes, at Sophia’s seat, which is now suddenly vacant.
“You see, from the clues I’ve gathered, it is clear that Lady Bella did not, in fact, die from falling off of the stage’s platform.”
That remark earned a gasp from some of the theater’s employees. Mr. Inference inwardly rolled his eyes.
“Then how did she die?” Ronald asked.
“From overdosing on Quivering Flower” Mr. Inference answered confidently.
“But then, who was the Bella we all saw on stage?” one of the actors asked.
“It was you!” Mr. Inference exclaimed with a dramatic flourish and point. That earned several gasps, but for once, Mr. Inference was surprised too. For while he had intended to point at Kroto, the late Lady Bella’s understudy, there was now no one near where he was pointing.
The disgraced boxer sat further from the other athletes as he waited for the agonizing torture that would be the awards ceremony. This meet was supposed to be his big chance to return to the competitive scene. It wasn’t fair that he got the same treatment as some of the other athletes. The hanafuda player couldn’t make up her mind on her deck? She should’ve thought it out before! The pitcher had to pitch 9 straight innings? He should’ve spoken up to the team coach! The fencer’s dominant hand was injured and was given a faulty sword? He should’ve known to keep his guard up, especially as a swordsman! The swimmer had muscle strain? Oh boo hoo.
As the boxer continued to brood, he didn’t notice the tennis player with the always present smile take a seat behind him.
“So! Why’d you come here?” he cheerfully asks the boxer.
“Why’d you come here?” the boxer grumpily retorts.
“Hey now, I asked first!”
Just as the boxer is about to get up and leave, he notices a commotion with the coaches. He overhears one of them mention something about the champion of the event going missing. So after Checkmate, who treated everyone like pawns in her chess game, went and stole away his chance for a new start, she had the audacity to just up and leave?
If only the boxer knew what actually became of her.
So, Dorothy had finally found out the truth. That didn’t matter to Princess Ozma. She had expected her to sooner or later, as soon as she had given her those ruby slippers. Ozma continued to stroke her cat as she remained in thought. So she had killed the tin man, the spookcrow and the lion, had she? And now Dorothy’s next target was the princess herself?
Ozma chuckled. No doubt the so-called “wicked witch” was helping her. No matter. Ozma would be prepared to face both of them. In the end, she’d still be the one left standing.
It was with that thought that Ozma made her way through her once shining castle to prepare for her inevitable confrontation with Dorothy. Soon enough, Ozma could see Dorothy’s approach, quite literally leaving behind a trail of blood from her stained shoes of Maroon Crystal. Princess Ozma dramatically throws the doors to the castle open with magic, only to find no one in sight. At first Ozma thinks Dorothy’s approach must’ve been an illusion, but sure enough, the trail of blood ends abruptly just before the doors of the castle.
Lightning flashes against the glass dome of the building, as each rumble of thunder makes the building come closer and closer to collapse. The scientist Electrolysis and soul-eater Ouroboros run up the steps to where the alchemist had first appeared, desperate for a way to stop the destruction of their world. A way to reverse their mistakes, and the mistakes of countless others.
But when they reach the ledge where the alchemist Golden Ratio appeared, all they find is a fading golden ratio in the air, and a dead and decaying vine on the ground.
The court clerk smiles smugly. The defendant is clearly despairing, as she should. She has sinned, and her dear judge has exposed her to the world. The deputy who stands behind the defendant smiles, the clerk certain that it is because he knows justice has been served. The court commissioners who watch from the gallery whisper to each other, no doubt praising the judge for delivering his judgment.
The judge sounds his gavel and calls for order, and though the Clerk already knows what he’ll say, she still dutifully continues to take down the record of the trial’s proceedings. The defendant hangs her head, no doubt making her peace. But before the Judge declares his official final verdict (it was clear from the start of the trial what his verdict would be), there are gasps from the people in the court. Even the deputy is surprised.
“Now that’s odd” the clerk thinks. “There’s always a reaction from the judge’s final verdict, but not before he’s actually given it.”
The clerk turns around and is just as surprised to see that her dear judge’s seat is vacant.
“Wake up! Step away from the illusions!”
The girl, Lollipop, flinches from her guide’s sudden change in demeanor. Everyone seemed so sweet in this place, including the man who so kindly offered to help her find her friends, and it was startling to see him so serious and angry.
“Oh, my dear child. Listen to what you’re saying. Isn’t this the most magical place in the world?”
The imposing, clown-like man’s words and following evil laughter terrified Lollipop, and she instinctively shuffled towards the back of the boat, where the boatman placed a comforting arm around her.
The chocolate river the boat was floating on suddenly ends in a severe drop, and before Lollipop, the guide, or the boatman can react, the boat plummets over the edge. Cheese hugs Lollipop protectively as they hit the fiery depths below. As she gasps for breath, Lollipop becomes increasingly concerned as Lava Cake doesn’t surface with them.
“Hey buddy, watch out!”
Norton, or the “Highway Cavalier”, as the press likes to refer to him as, barely has time to react to the warning as another racer’s vehicle is flung in his direction. The Rocinante takes a direct hit, and Norton is sent flying with it.
His vision blurry, Norton manages to unbuckle himself from his vehicle and crawl out from the wreckage. How Mike, or as he was nicknamed, “Pumping Tires”, had managed to warn him at all was beyond Norton, but he didn’t care. What he was more concerned about was how a whole car was sent flying at him like that.
Norton looks up to see that a number of other vehicles have piled up in the Garden Corridor. To his right, he could see a damaged motorcycle on its side, its rider, Fiona, whom he was told was called “Reflective Mirror” from the horns of her helmet being covered in mirrors, lay unmoving just past it.
For some reason, Norton started to recall their time together with the Investigation Bureau. That had ended when he had gotten corrupted by the Abyss and was left for dead in Steam City. Wondering why he started thinking about that particular memory just now, he realized it was because the two events had him believing he was about to die; because speeding towards him was a racer covered in almost molten metal shaped like a deer, showing no signs of stopping.
Just like he had back in Steam City, Norton closed his eyes waiting for the embrace of death. A loud crash beside him however forced him to open his eyes. The racer’s vehicle had veered off to the side of the road suddenly and narrowly missed Norton, the driver now completely absent.
“Close your ears. Do not let the tumult of the outside world sully your mind”
The Wanderer’s screams were muffled as her ears were chopped off.
“Close your eyes. Do not let the world’s corruption tarnish your soul”
The Candleman struggled helplessly as burning candles were placed on his eyes.
“Close your mouth. Do not let foul words defile the pure of heart”
“Maria” let out her last screams of agony.
Amidst the “cleansing” of their new members, Role Call continued to read the list of new members to join their ranks in front of the worshippers as they cheered. Suddenly though, the cheers turned to scared whispers. Sensing the change in atmosphere, Role Call stopped his reading, and turned to look for the source of the disturbance.
Looking to their savior for guidance, Role Call instead finds that their god has forsaken them.
Ignoring the Professor of Literature’s objections, the personal maid follows after Hebe and Thalia up the tower to where Narcissus had gone.
“Clio said she heard a violin being played at night, and Anna was locked away up in the tower too after she went crazy! They might be in danger! The stories about the Crescent Knight have to be real!”
Eventually overtaking Hebe and Thalia, the disguised Lady Truth climbs the final stairs of the tower and bursts into the room. Awaiting her there however, is only a strange mask.
“Where is she? I know she’s here!”
The bandit raises his blade menacingly, but the princess’s guards remain unflinching. If the immortal guard had any semblance of a free will left, he would have scoffed that the bandit’s tiny blade would be no match for his sword and shield, while the other guard simply notes that the bandit could be useful to her.
The bandit lunges for the female guard, but there’s a flash of light from her hands, and suddenly he’s flat on his back on the desert sand.
“You see, princess? Nothing to be concerned about.”
But it’s now the two guards' turn to be concerned. For after they receive no response, they return to where they had left Shining Feather, to find that there’s now only a disturbed patch of sand.
“Let me offer up this meager morsel! Come, wash away their filth and sin!” the mermaid lover cries out, raising her hands as the waves become larger and more violent.
Behind her, the boatman desperately tries to take control of the boat. The performer and post-graduate students scream in fear, as the treasure hunter contemplates diving into the ocean to avoid the sudden storm.
To the mermaid lover’s delight, illuminated by a flash of lightning, a gorgeous mermaid wielding a trident emerges from the waves. The woman continues to smile as she takes in the mermaid’s beauty.
A blue light appears behind the mermaid however, and suddenly, the mermaid is gone. The Pilgrim’s smile turns to an expression of shock, as the waves start to die down. Had she done something wrong? The mermaid had appeared as she had hoped, everything should have gone according to plan. Why would she disappear like that?
“Well, Mr. Inference? Who was the culprit then?”
Mr. Inference turned to D.M. He still couldn’t take him seriously with that clown costume on.
“The Prince seemed to have suffered from heart problems as he died, while the Rainmaker was soaking wet. These are intentional similarities to the stories they told during the game earlier. Therefore, the killer could only have been someone who was present for their stories” Mr. Inference explained.
“And that means that the culprit could only be you!” Mr. Inference exclaimed with a dramatic flourish and point.
D.M. and the others in the room gasped, but this time Mr. Inference was surprised too. For while he had intended to point at the guest dressed as a “Succubus”, he was instead pointing at an empty space on the floor. Confused, Mr. Inference also had a vague sense of déjà vu.
Panting, the man ran up the stairs to the queen’s room, as his companion followed closely behind. They had failed to help The Fugitive king escape from the kingdom before nightfall, and so were unable to prevent the queen from making him into her personal gladiator.
Standing outside the queen’s room, Seditious Bindings and Cursed Tears gather their courage and knock down the door. Rather than finding their queen Feathered Cloak performing some sort of unspeakable torture to The Fugitive however, they find only the former king curled up in a vulnerable position on the floor, clutching at his face as if having a panic attack.
The runaway struggles futilely against the strange root-like bindings and the faithful servant’s powerful grip. The butterfly he had pulled from the chest of the strange leader in red flutters out of his hand as he screams to the heavens, as more white butterflies hover about in the air around him.
The runaway looks to see that the white smoke has finally stopped rising from the sacrificed man who laid on the red blanket, the ceremony complete.
The Man in Red raises his hands as his followers kneel around him, before approaching a set of ornate doors behind his throne. As they open to reveal a blinding red light, the man turns to give the Runaway one final smile before disappearing.
“Well this was cool I guess” Luca comments nonchalantly at the sudden influx of beings occupying the room. He was, however, pretty interested in the man who looked a lot like him, but was dressed like he had come from another continent. He didn’t notice the man dressed in red surrounded by white butterflies giving him a strange look though.
“SEND THEM BACK!” Tracy cries, thankful there wasn’t anyone that seemed to be a copy of her. She cowers in fear as a bladed fan narrowly misses her, and then hides behind Luca as a strange, masked green man with a tentacle-covered cane seems to eye her longingly.
“I’m too old for this” Burke grumbles as he tries for the fifty-eighth time to drink from his empty flask.
Fiona watched from afar as she studied each figure as they were summoned. The man who resembled the embalmer and the first of the women who resembled the enchantress had briefly piqued her interest, as had the mermaid with the trident. But the only ones who had left a lasting impression on her were the ones that resembled the Ripper, Smiley Face, and the Gamekeeper.
As Hastur and Yidhra’s followers restrained the more unruly of the summoned individuals, the two outer gods silently watched the mortals deal with the situation only the two of them found amusing.
In the end, a couple of the manor’s other residents had inevitably stumbled upon the secret basement room. Thankfully by that time, Fiona had sent away most of the summoned figures, including the more volatile ones, so there was no longer any threat to anyone’s safety. Still, it was difficult to explain why she and the others were covered in saltwater, melted chocolate and blood, among other things.