Inside his office, Diko was sitting in his chair and staring at the wall of paper that was beginning to tower.
One may ask, what was it?
The answer would be: receipts and debt forms.
The word "Urgent" was stamped by three different departments that are available in the academy: the Department of Finance, Department of Human Resources, and Department of Fey Representative.
He pressed his fingers into his temples, looking at this mess. The sudden bills had only begun appearing after he had finished the beach trip back at Lupache Vacation House. He sighed and looked outside to gather his thoughts.
Outside, the United Front City's carnival was commencing. He could already smell the sweetness of caramel popcorn drifting in through his window even though it was shut.
If only he could take another vacation, this would be the perfect day to have a day off.
He flipped a fancy invitation with his pen.
"How I wish I were free," he said to the room.
"You can't join us?" Carmilla said from the doorway, as if she heard what he said.
She slipped in with Raymed behind her.
Raymed was wearing casual, trendy attire, while Carmilla wore a simple white dress and cardigan.
"Hey, you really aren't coming?" she asked.
"I have a lot of paperwork," Diko said, stabbing the quill back into ink. "Someone has to untangle the debt after that little stunt Thalamik and I pulled. The Fey Council said 'debt' so many times I started hearing it in my sleep."
A whisper was heard: "Debt..."
"HUH? WHO'S THERE!?" Diko, startled, started looking around like a crazy person.
Raymed's grin was evident. "You sure you won't sneak out for one ride? We can call it an inspection or work trip."
"I'd rather not hear any more from Celathis and the other Directors," Diko said. He paused, then added, "Even though I might still hear it."
Raymed looked at Carmilla. Carmilla did the polite thing and covered her smile.
"Oh yeah, what about Thalamik?" Raymed asked. "Do you know where he is? Is he coming?"
Diko's pen hovered. "No. Ever since he became Special Auditor and it isn't mandatory to attend class, he decided to have an impromptu vacation. He left two days ago. Said he was going home—to visit his in-laws." He scratched his neck, frowning. "Hasn't written since, though."
Carmilla's mouth softened. "I hope he's enjoying the peace."
"Wait—no word at all?" Raymed said.
Diko shook his head. "Well, now that I think about it..." Diko smiled knowingly. "Isn't it typical of him?"
Raymed blew out a long breath. "You know. Yeah. Sounds like him, all right."
"Go," Diko said, flapping a hand like he could shoo them toward better air. "Enjoy something on my behalf. Preferably, that something won't become a line item on this table of misery."
"If we survive the quest, we'll bring caramel popcorn," Raymed said jokingly.
"Bring receipts; I'll pay you back," Diko called after them. "Double Glazed Caramel if you can find one."
Raymed and Carmilla left as Diko started to work again while drinking his coffee.
"I wish I could just use my power to disappear," he said, smiling hopelessly. "Well, back to work!"
***
The carnival gate threw light everywhere. There were crazy-looking lights everywhere, ribbons and tents where the attractions resided. There were also some performers present, like the fire jugglers and a sword swallower.
The group that met was Raymed, Carmilla, Trish, Lulu, Killiar, and Illias, who met up in the center of the carnival, where there was a circular shape on the floor.
Trish was wearing a jump dress, jewelry neat and lethal. Lulu was wearing a blue T-shirt and short jeans. Killiar tied her red hair with a tracksuit. Illias was wearing a matching white dress like Carmilla's.
As the gang assembled, they realized there were people missing.
"Where's Besitulars?" Raymed said, scanning faces.
Trish folded her arms. "I bet he overslept. Again."
Carmilla frowned. "Hmm... I would like to assume that, since he invited us, he should be waiting at the gate."
"We also forgot Mr. Blacksm— I mean... Dwargo!" Lulu said, ears quirking.
"Well, inviting Dwargo to a non-beneficial activity or activity unrelated to smithing was kind of a lost cause," Raymed said with a hopeless grin.
"Then let's just go, shall we?" Carmilla said.
The group nodded as they began to walk.
Illias then glanced toward a striped jacket in the crowd. "Let's ask," she said.
The attendant who appeared had the kind of smile that came with training. "Honored guests of Besitulars?" he bowed the exact correct depth. "Right this way."
He led them through game stalls and snack carts toward a giant clown face with a chipped grin and an open mouth for a door.
Then it happened.
One eye flickered red with a burst of mana.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Trish shouted.
"What was what?" Raymed asked.
"Did you see anything, Trish?" Carmilla asked.
The rest of the group looked at her weirdly.
"Erm... Nothing..."
As they inspected closer, there was a sign:
"HAUNTED HOUSE OF INFERNO FUNHOUSE"
Raymed eyed it. "So is it a funhouse or a haunted house?" he asked the staff.
"It's both," the staff said with a flat smile.
"That's not how it works," Raymed retorted.
"It is how it works."
"I don't think you understand."
"I don't think YOU understand, sir."
Raymed sighed and looked at the others. "It seems there will be cheap scares along the way."
"Cheap scares? So it's horror then?" Trish sniffed, flicking white hair off her shoulder arrogantly. "Do they think this is scary for people who've fought demons?" Trish smiled confidently, that anyone would be convinced she is not scared.
"Probably this is a different kind of scary," Lulu murmured, tugging Trish's sleeve. "Demons don't usually have honkers on their shoes. I actually can't stand those jester clown horrors, you know."
AREN'T YOU YOURSELF A JESTER, THOUGH?! Silently, everyone except Lulu thought that.
"All right, honored guests. Before entering," the attendant lifted a tray. Black metal cuffs lay in a neat row, humming faintly.
"These are state-of-the-art suppressor bracelets brought to you by Dwargo Blacksmith House!" he said. "This is all for safety, of course. The attraction is supposed to be experienced without mana, so hopefully, there will be no one using spells. No one causing incidents."
Trish's hand hesitated for a heartbeat. Raymed saw it.
"If you're scared, you can sit this out," he said gently with a smile. "No shame—"
"Do I look scared?" Trish snapped, cheeks warming. She grabbed two cuffs, clipping both onto her wrists, followed by a clicking sound.
Killiar buckled her cuffs with little expression. Illias checked hers before finally cuffing hers. Carmilla snapped hers closed without fuss. Lulu fumbled a bit until Raymed steadied her wrist and did it for her.
The door in the clown's mouth groaned open.
Cold air seeped over.
A voice floated out, low and pleased.
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
"KYAA!" Lulu's whole body jumped. She leapt into Trish's arms. One ear smacked Trish in the cheek.
"LULU!" Trish yelped. "Don't do that!"
Raymed rubbed his face. "Why do I feel this is gonna be a long day?"
The mouth finished opening.
They stepped inside.
The door shut behind them with a comfortable click.
***
Heat vanished in an instant.
The air was cool as it showed the first hall, which was narrow and low, with mirrored frames carved with vines and jester faces and little teeth.
As they walked, they could see that the reflections were wrong.
Carmilla's reflection showed her wearing large robes. Chains were present on her limbs and her neck.
Raymed's reflection showed him painted with blood along his jaw and a broken Avalon weapon in his hands.
Killiar's reflection was a child wearing glasses and short hair. What was different was the fact the kid was smiling brightly, as if it could rival all the smiles in the world.
Trish's reflection was a child crying without smudging. A cracked crown was lying at her feet.
Lulu's reflection was a version of herself, but carrying a knife and painted with blood. She was eating the bodies of her victims with glee.
Illias' reflection seemed to smile wrongly as her body was attached to strings that stretched endlessly.
"W-Why do they look so real?" Lulu asked while ducking behind Carmilla.
"Illusions," Raymed said.
He tapped a knuckle on the glass.
FWOOSH!
Only for his hand to slide through like mist. As he retracted his hand, the mirror rippled and settled perfectly fine.
"Not cheap ones," Illias said, fingertips to the frame. "This must be illusions that can rival phantasms."
"What are phantasms?" Raymed asked.
"Think of them as illusions of the highest quality, enough to fool even an illusionist. Something like an illusion that looks like reality itself is wrapping."
"Stay close," Carmilla said, not sensing mana but using her intuition.
They moved slow and steady.
As they moved through the hall, the mirrors flexed around them as their angles bent. Then they noticed puppets hanging from the ceiling with stitched smiles and shiny eyes that followed them.
Then it happened again—a fiery red eye of mana fluctuation.
"WAA!!!!" Trish screamed.
"Trish, what is it again?" Raymed asked.
"IT FLARED! THE EYES!" Trish said.
"Which one? There are too many to look," Raymed said with a smile.
The others nodded to what Raymed said, all looking at Trish.
"M-m-Maybe it was just my imagination," Trish said.
Then one head of the puppet twisted with an ugly crack.
"HN!" Trish almost screamed, "N-Not scared, not—!"
Raymed glanced back with a grin. "Right. Not scared."
"Shut up!" she spat.
The floor suddenly clicked as if there was something clicking the floor.
Then it happened:
The hall dropped.
Raymed, Carmilla, and Lulu vanished down a slide.
"AAA NOOO RAYMED CARMILLA LULU!!" Trish lunged and caught a panel slamming down between them. It closed with a book's satisfaction.
They were split.
"WHAT SHOULD WE DO, KILLIAR, ILLIAS!!" Trish was starting to panic.
"It'll be fine, Trish, as long as there are no closed spaces—" Killiar said.
"—As long as there are no human organs," Illias continued.
"WE WILL BE FINE!" Killiar and Illias reassured Trish.
***
Raymed, Carmilla, and Lulu hit a cushioned strip and bounced to their feet.
Raymed was in a crouch, and Carmilla was already standing as she hugged Lulu. "Are you okay, Lulu?" Carmilla asked.
Lulu, with sharp tears, said, "Carrr—miyaa!!! Lulu so scared!"
Carmilla smiled and hugged her tighter. "It'll be fine; I am here." She caressed Lulu's head.
"I am also here, by the way," Raymed said.
"Yes. I am stronger, though," Carmilla said.
"That's true."
After taking a short break, they started walking toward a corridor. It felt narrow in the head, but they could still move.
Torches lit the hall but somehow without smoke. There were also crooked paintings that stared while they progressed forward. There were paintings of laughing clowns, crying kids, and generic zombies.
Raymed stepped toward a portrait, curious. He then tapped a clown's red nose, only for its hand to suddenly slide out of the canvas and grab his wrist.
The ghastly clown hand was now holding his wrist.
"RAY, WHAT SHOULD WE DO?!" Lulu said.
Raymed smiled. "This is nothing. Yoisho!" He then yanked it free. "If I were a horror-attraction reviewer, I'd give it... ten out of ten for effort."
Carmilla thought, "If we had our magic—"
"Then we would finish this attraction too fast," Raymed said.
"Huhuhuhuhu!"
They suddenly heard a girl crying.
They saw there was someone in a ragged dress, head down, and her shoulders shaking.
Lulu tugged Carmilla's sleeve. "Is she crying?"
Carmilla stepped forward without thinking. "Hey. Are you lost? We can—"
The child lifted her head.
To reveal it had no face.
No features.
"Ah, I see. Is this one of those Slendermen?" Carmilla asked, eyes in interest.
The figure tottered forward like a puppet.
"Hey, are we supposed to hit anything inside the Funhouse?" Raymed asked.
"Hmm, probably not," Carmilla said.
"Hmm, but then what should we do?"
"Then I'll lightly tap it," Raymed said as he moved and pushed the child.
The child, even though it was slightly pushed, popped into smoke.
Only to reappear behind them.
Then another stood to Raymed's left.
A third formed near Carmilla's shoulder.
"Hehehehehehehehe," the child laughed hysterically.
Lulu made a soft, trapped sound. "No no no— AAAA!!!"
"How can a Slenderman make sounds if they don't have any face?" Carmilla asked.
"Is it really time to be asking that?" Raymed replied with a sweat.
The three were surrounded and unable to move from the location.
Suddenly, the child screamed in pain out of nowhere.
Something was making them unable to move freely; their movement became rigid.
"Hey, here's our chance. Let's go!" Raymed said.
***
Killiar, Trish, and Illias were still walking in the previous hall, entering a whole new hall. It was now lit by lanterns.
"Great," Trish said. "Separated already."
"You have been saying that for quite a while now, Trish," Killiar responded.
They swept a curtain aside to reveal a new change of scenery.
A wax figure was slumped in a chair; the mouth was open.
Illias set her palm to its chest. "Ah!" she said.
"WHAT IS IT?" Trish asked, startled.
BADUMP.
BADUMP.
"I forgot..." Killiar said.
BADUMP.
BADUMP.
"Forgot what?" Trish asked while Killiar seemed to ready herself.
BADUMP.
BADUMP.
.
.
.
.
.
"I forgot we can't use mana. I can't detect anything," Illias said, smiling shyly.
"What the hell, Illias..." Trish said.
"Mind your tongue, Trish. She's still your senior," Killiar said.
"AH, THAT'S RIGHT! Sorry for the sudden outburst!" Trish said, bowing down.
"Ah! No worries, Trish," Illias waved her hand.
Suddenly, the wax collapsed into itself. It melted down and dribbled to the chair.
"That is super creepy, but I guess we can just go along..." Trish said. "As a matter of fact, there's another curtain there."
The next curtain hid two.
"Umm...." Trish said.
The next curtain they opened hid six.
"Okay... what is going on..." Trish asked with anxious eyes.
Then they opened another curtain to find a corridor leading somewhere. But it was filled to the brim with wax figures.
"...Okay," Trish said softly. "This is even scarier."
They stepped.
TAP.
"Did they just?" Trish asked.
"Yes, they did," Killiar answered.
As they took another step—
TAP.
The figures stepped with them.
"Is there anything we can do about this? Can we harm them?" Illias asked.
"Supposing that they're not persons, probably we can kick them or harm them a little," Killiar said.
As they began stepping again, Killiar pulled a roundhouse kick. Her kick hit a figure as it suddenly melted. But then it hit a lantern that was there and was lit on fire.
"SHIT! KILLIAR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Trish said.
"My bad. I kicked it too strong," Killiar said.
The flames ran to the other wax figures, and the heat increased in the room.
"Okay, we better go," Killiar said.
"YOU THINK?" Trish said.
They started to run, but the wax figures followed as they, too, kept running,
making the flames keep on going closer and closer to them.
"At least we now know that there are props and illusions; not all of them are!" Illias said.
"It's amazing that you can stay positive in this situation," Trish said.
They pushed through together in the corridor.
Killiar was in the front, making sure nothing was an obstacle for them, kicking any wax figure that halted their way. Trish kept her chin up, teeth gnawing, as her heartbeat increased. Illias ran while watching everything in the corridor with interest.
"I SEE A LIGHT—GOOOO!!" Trish said.
***
The ballroom opened.
The ceiling was high.
Chandeliers were hung.
The red carpet led to a staircase.
Raymed, Carmilla, and Lulu came from one side.
Trish, Killiar, Illias stumbled in from the other side.
"AHH! You guys made it!" Lulu said, and then hid behind Carmilla again. "Wait, are they phantasms or real?" Lulu said.
"HOW RUDE!" Trish said.
"Yeah, that's Trish. In all her fearful self," Carmilla said with a smile.
"CARMILLA!!!" Trish said.
Raymed smiled and said, "Okay, team, regroup."
They walked and regrouped, turning their backs almost touching.
"I have a theory," Carmilla said.
"To cause this kind of phantasm, there had to be multiple people giving out their mana. It's just impossible for them to make this kind of illusions," Carmilla said. "But if it were only one person doing this all, it can only be a High Human."
"That's a sound theory," Illias replied. "But can we rule out Demonfolk behind all of this?"
"Demonfolk?" Raymed asked before something appeared.
A wall of mirror filled the far side.
"Not another mirror," Raymed groaned.
Their reflections were there, and slowly...
The images thickened...
The glass fogged from the inside and cleared.
One by one, the reflections stepped out.
The glass didn't shatter.
The surface pushed and released a body, and then another, and then six.
The doubles.
The imitations all smiled.
They all went to a battle position.
"Great," Raymed said. "We fight ourselves. What can be scarier than that?"
"The fact that we must do it without mana," Killiar reminded him. She cracked her fingers. "So we fight smart."
"CKCKCKCKCKCK No, no, no. This wasn't the point at all." A familiar voice was heard.
The voice was very familiar—that of a beastkin.
The doubles suddenly paused, their heads turned towards the owner of the voice.
"Enjoying the attraction?" The voice hinted a gleeful smile. "Special guests."
"Besitulars?" Raymed called up. "What is the meaning of this?"
The voice chuckled, "Ahem. Welcome to the premium tier. You're all so brave. Admirable. And reckless!"
No one responded.
In their minds, they thought perhaps this was also another illusion.
"You're doing wonderfully where you are. Don't worry—safety is nearly guaranteed. But... if he—"
Trish stopped dead. "But he?"
"If he decides it should be changed, then it will be changed. It's a carnival, after all. You scream, then you laugh about screaming. Try to have fun."
The doubles suddenly twitched like having a seizure.
No music cue.
No warning.
Their bodies jittered like crazy.
They all fell to the ground almost instantly.
Silence bounced once on the floor and then settled.
"Did we… win?" Lulu whispered.
Besitulars suddenly moved to the right and left as if muttering something. "No, please. Please don't— I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!"
Then he went silent. As he turned to look at the crowd, his grin was too wide. His eyes were red, fiery with mana.
He spread his arms like an MC about to sell you fireworks. "Friends," he boomed, "for our finale—"
His cheeks puffed.
His body began inflating.
"H...e....l....p....me..." he said slowly.
A bulge rolled under the skin of his face like a bubble.
His throat swelled.
His body outline inflated, stretching into the shape of a balloon.
"Besitulars?" Raymed asked in confusion.
"Wait, is he going to—?" Trish began.
Carmilla then screamed, "BESITULARSSS!!!"
.
.
.
.
"sorry everyone..."
Besitulars's body popped.
Blood sprayed them all.
Red, under ballroom light.
"What the? WHAT THE?? AAAA!!!!!!!!!!" Trish and Lulu screamed.
Illias flinched but didn't mutter a word.
Carmilla was breathing hard.
Raymed gritted his teeth. If his mana were available, the environment was probably ruptured already.
Then a voice was heard.
A devilish laugh rolled that could be heard from all directions.
It was as if the Funhouse itself was laughing with it.
"I am Decarabia, one of the 72 Demon Lord Envoys."
"We shall begin the dance of corpses"